Gaming's Next Generation
by Child at Heart Forever
Summary: When all our favorite heroes get a little too old to save the day, someone is going to have to take their place...so what better way to get a head start than with a training school? However, the villains cash in on this idea as well, and the results aren't going to be pretty...
1. Welcome to Hero High!

**This began with a simple question: What would heroes do when they got too old for saving universes? Answer- They'd train a new generation of heroes to take their place before it got to that point!**

**Three minutes later, I was already typing up the first chapter outta nowhere.**

**This story involves lots of OCs and a high school setting! So if you don't like either of those, turn back now! Though I think I can promise that this is different than average. After all, it only focuses on the first day. ;P So if you're still reading by this point, I hope you enjoy!**

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Gaming's Next Generation

Part 1: Welcome to Hero High!

**Before First Hour-**

A tall man sprints down the hallway as fast as his legs will carry him. He fears he will be late, trying to reach his destination before his deadline. He still has three minutes, but as a man with his status, he is supposed to already _be_ there, ready, _prepared_. He has a suitcase clutched in his right hand, filled with everything he believes he will need…which is everything but the kitchen sink.

He approaches the room, getting closer with each step. He hears commotion on the other side of the door. He frowns, reaching for the doorknob and giving it a twist. He pulls the door open, feasting his eyes upon the rowdiness going on before him.

As he trudges nervously into the room, he scans the twelve faces scattered about the room. Some of them are sitting quietly, waiting for something to start, such as the blue fox in the front and the royally dressed boy sitting next to him. Others are making a scene, like the green star-shaped kid who is pulling a female angel's hair, or the human boy dressed in purple making fun of an equally purple hedgehog, whom is being defended by a tan-skinned girl wearing black and green.

They are a colorful sort, to be sure, but the man believes they won't be too much to handle. He takes a seat at the front of the room, places his suitcase on the desk, and checks the clock.

Eight on the dot. The bell rings. He has not missed his deadline. Class has started.

"Good morning, students," the man begins, adjusting his green cap. "My name is Mr. Mario, but you can call me Luigi for less confusion. I advise you all to take a seat and halt all shenanigans you are performing. Especially you, Purple."

The human boy in purple punk clothes gulps as he hears his name, quickly scrambling to his desk. The purple hedgehog is eternally grateful, being lead to his desk by the tall tan girl. The star child ceases to pull the angel girl's hair, which she quickly pulls over her shoulder and out of his reach. Luigi, meanwhile, stands up, picks up a piece of chalk, and not only writes his name on the board, but also the name of this particular class.

Heroic Basics 101.

"Now, before we begin," Luigi continues, scooping up a stack of papers. "I believe attendance is in order. As I call your name, you will advise that you are here, followed by where you are from and what hero signed you up for this school, just for clarity. Understood?"

Several muffled yeses follow. Luigi nods, places a pair of reading glasses on his nose, and begins to scan the list.

"Okay, let's see…Angelina?"

"Here," murmurs the angel girl with the long curly brown hair. She is garbed in a pale pink robe with dark pink spandex underneath, and her wings have light pinkish tint to them as well. Unlike the one that signed her up, this angle has a halo hovering above her head. "I'm from Skyworld, as a recently ascended angel, and Pit signed me up so that I can move up in the ranks of Palutena's Army."

Luigi nods, moving down on the list. "Coby?"

"Here!" cries a small red blob, crashing in through the window on a Warp Star. He slides across the ground, eventually slamming into a gray cabinet and ending up with his orange feet in the air. The class cringes at the display while Luigi just looks on in disbelief. "Sorry 'bout that- I wanted to make a cool entrance."

"Oh boy…" Luigi huffs under his breath.

Coby scrambles up off the ground and stylishly slides into a desk next to a girl in all pink. The light orange-colored mask that is on top of his forehead falls forward as he states his information. "I'm from Popstar, Dreamland to be exact, and I'm a Star Warrior and apprentice to the great Kirby!"

"Kirby?" Luigi echoes, sounding curious. "If you're Kirby's apprentice, then why are you wearing a mask?"

"Well, Meta Knight is a Star Warrior too, so I get all my training from the both of them. I just wear the mask because Meta Knight signed me up for this school so I can show some self-control…and because it's really cool."

Luigi does not reply.

"Elysia Aran-Higgs?"

"Here," says the tall tan-skinned teenage girl, her jet black hair stuck up in a ponytail and styled like her mother's. While she mostly resembles her father, Elysia has her mother's blue eyes, hair style, and sense of fashion- she sports a black and green zero suit, and it suits her nicely. "I was born on Norion, but I don't like to call it my home because it's pretty much a military base. My mom sent me here so I can prove my worth and get my own power suit just like my parents."

"Your mother is Samus Aran, I assume?" Luigi asks, smiling a bit. "Very respectable woman."

Elysia nods. "Thank you. My father is Anthony Higgs, and he's a good man too."

"How in the world did _they_ get together?" Purple mutters from the back row. Luigi gives Purple a stern look as Elysia frowns.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"And that will be respected by all of us," Luigi stated, still glaring at Purple. "Ahem, anyway. Damien Hyrule?"

"I am present," says the royal boy in blue, in the front seat and would probably hand Luigi an apple if he had one. "I am obviously from Hyrule, and am in fact its prince. My mother, Queen Zelda, enrolled me here to perfect my royal duties and my magic powers that I have inherited from her."

"Oh_ pisah_," snorts a girl in the back row. The class turns to stare at her as Damien scowls, sending a murderous glare her way. She is leaned back in her chair, her brown boots resting on the table. Her hands, covered by brown gloves and bracers, are folded neatly behind her head and resting on her long blonde hair. She moves one to smooth out her pink tunic, but returns it to its initial position as she smirks at her brother.

"You keep quiet," Damien warns, his intense stare not wavering.

"I assume you're Zelda Hyrule?" Luigi asked wearily, also staring at the girl. Zelda nods, twisting out of her chair so that she is now standing on the desk. The class just stares at her with wide eyes.

"That's right! I'm the princess of Hyrule! My dad is Link, the greatest hero who ever lived!" She draws a sword strapped to her back and swings it around, causing the children near her to duck. "He signed me up to perfect my swordsmanship skills and become a perfect hero just like him!"

"I can tell you're his daughter," sighs Luigi, now even wearier than before. Damien stands up and pats Luigi's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mr. Mario. I think Father is crazy too. Obviously I got all the manners and patience."

"And I haven't a single trace of _boring_ within me," Zelda snaps back, now sitting back in her seat. "You're a very _dull_ older brother."

"And you're an _obnoxious_ little sister," sighs Damien, rubbing his forehead as he returns to his seat as well. "But I'll have to have patience if I want to be a good king one day."

"Whatever," huffs Zelda, folding her arms after adjusting her pink cap, just like her father's. "I don't wanna sit on a throne all day anyway. I wanna be adventuring!"

"That's enough you two, keep it at a minimum," Luigi says, although he was very willing to take Damien's side. Regardless, he continues the roll call.

"Lulu Hare?"

"Here!" exclaims a slender gray rabbit wearing a pink outfit. She raises and waves her hand for emphasis. "I believe I was born in the Lylat System, and my grandfather and mother recommended that I sign up so I can follow in their footsteps and figure out better strategies to fight crime."

"That's the way to be," Luigi says with a smile, pointing his pencil in Lulu's direction. Lulu smiles back; Zelda blows a raspberry. "Hmm…next we have Junichi the Hedgehog?"

"Here," whispers a quiet voice, belonging to the purple hedgehog that Elysia defended from Purple's bullying. He nervously tugs on his gloves, wondering where to go with his introduction. His gray eyes roll down to stare at his shoes, which happen to be a pair of hand-me-downs. After a few moments of not saying anything afterward, Elysia speaks up for him.

"He's from Mobius, for those that don't know," she explains, Junichi giving her a pleased smile. "He was adopted by Amy Rose, and she enrolled him to help him find his calling in life, since he's not sure of what he wants to do yet. Junichi just knows that he wants to be a hero-"

"And make Sonic proud," Junichi whispers afterward.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate your choice to be on the side of good," Luigi comments with a grin, and Junichi shuffles in his chair. Elysia gives him a reassuring smile, and he finally relaxes. After witnessing this display, Luigi moves on. "Marcus McCloud?"

"That's me," the blue fox in the front states coolly from his seat next to Damien. "I'm from Corneria, like Lulu, and I've already graduated from the Cornerian Flight Academy, and I'm set to take my dad's place as head of the Star Fox team!"

"I'll take my grandfather's place," Lulu says with a smile.

"Ooh! Ooh! I'll take after my dad!" cries an orange toad, jumping excitedly in his seat. "And we'll team up with the legendary Falco Lombardi, who was part of the previous team!"

"Yeah!" Marcus laughs, turning back to Luigi. "Of course, our parents want us to graduate from this school before we can do all that and we have to wait for them to officially retire, so that's pretty much why I'm here despite being, and I quote, 'Unbelievable'."

"Unbelievable indeed," hums Purple from the back once again.

"I think he's cool!" squealed Coby.

"All right then, is someone named Pink here?"

The girl dressed in all preppy pink raises her hand, and Luigi nods and checks her off the list. "It's…a little hard to say where I'm from. My mom was born in Johto and my father from Kanto, but we live in Unova. I specialize in psychic Pokemon, and I'm here just for the experience, actually. I'd like to be a hero like Red, though. He's my cousin! Red's all silent and stuff, and sometimes he can be-"

"Boring?" questioned Zelda, and Pink sheepishly rubs the back of her head. "Yeah, I know how it is."

"You hardly give Red any credit- he's only the best Pokemon Trainer to ever live! Not to mention the youngest kid to make it to the champion level, then resign after three years!" gasps Coby.

Pink shrugs sheepishly once more as Purple stands, jerking his hat so it sits on his head at a strange angle. Luigi narrows his eyes as he crosses the next name on the list.

"Purple…"

"We all know I'm here," Purple says with a grin much too big for his face.

"No kidding," murmurs Junichi.

"Anyway, my mom's from Hoenn and my dad from Sinnoh, and I live in Isshu-"

"Isn't that the same as Unova?" questions Pink with her eyes rolled. Purple glowers.

"Yes, but I like to call it Isshu. I'm related to Hilda White, if anyone cares to know."

"How'd you end up here?" Luigi asks, lagging much enthusiasm.

Purple shrugs. "Some fluke in the system, maybe because of my relations. Be blessed I didn't end up in the bad school. Regardless, I specialize in Poison Pokémon, so watch your back…"

He spins a purple Pokeball on his finger, grinning devilishly in Junichi's direction. The hedgehog starts squirming again and Elysia chastises the trainer for his actions. Luigi rubs his forehead, thankful that he is almost finished with the list.

"Skippy Toad?"

"Me! Me! Me!" shrieks the orange Toad. "I'm from the Lylat System, my dad is Slippy, and I'm here because the rest of the future Star Fox team is here! I didn't want to be away from my friends…"

Luigi sighs in relief. "Thank you for keeping it brief."

His gazes turns to the only student he hasn't called yet, and he is somewhat hesitant after the child's previous actions.

"Starlos?"

"Finally," sighs the green star sitting behind Angelina. He twirls the propeller on his propeller cap impatiently. "I'm the nephew of the Legendary Starfy! Sometimes called Stafy by his diehard fans."

"I assume your mother is Starly then?" Luigi inquires. Starlos nods.

"Yeah, she wants me to be a hero like Uncle Starfy and become legendary. I'm pretty sure it won't happen though."

"That's why we're here, so we can make it happen!" Luigi exclaims, prepared to begin teaching now. However, he comes across one last name on the list, making it number thirteen. He counts the heads of the students. Only twelve.

This is puzzling.

"Erm…is anyone named Tenn here?"

The class is silent. They glance around, looking for anyone who hasn't been called. No such person is found.

"I think this person is late," comments Angelina.

"Maybe they dropped out!" exclaims Skippy.

"That's not very professional," Damien states with his nose stuck in the air.

"Well then," Luigi begins, lifting his pencil to the paper. "I suppose they are just absent then-"

"PSI TELEPORT!"

The class cries out in surprise as a blinding flash engulfs them all, and a small figure emerges afterwards. Coughing along with everyone else, Luigi glances up at the late arrival.

At a first glance, he thinks Tenn is a boy.

Tenn has red sneakers with long socks, blue denim shorts, a light blue and bright yellow striped T-shirt, and a red bandana tied around the neck, but what made Luigi realize Tenn was a girl was her long black and blonde hair held back by a red headband.

"I am SO sorry!" she exclaims, adjusting the tan backpack strapped over her shoulders. "I, I, I-"

"You're late," Luigi says flatly. Tenn hangs her head and rushes to speak.

"I know. I was fighting off zombies on my way here with my golf club and a pack of chewing gum. It was crazy, bro! Then I realized what time it was and simply teleported here."

"Okay, but you're still late for your first day of school," Luigi explains. "Take a seat as you tell us where your from and why you're here."

"I'm _from Podunk_," Tenn gasps out, stumbling over to a desk next to Skippy, Pink, and Coby. My father is Ninten, but I was being trained to use my psychic powers by Ness. I'm here…_pant_…I can't even_ remember_ why at the moment,_ let me have a breather…"_

As Tenn sprawls out over her desk, Luigi arises from his, finally set to begin his course. He paces in front of his desk, acknowledging all of his students.

"I'll tell you the reason you are all here… the greatest heroes of our current generation -namely your parents, guardians, or other- won't be able to be around forever. So, they devised this school to give you the skills you'll need to take their places one day, and become the next generation of heroes!"

"Because this idea hasn't been used already or anything," Purple mumbles under his breath.

"Hey, will we be as great as Mario one day?" Coby suddenly asks, and the class is whipped into excitement thinking about the greatest hero in existence.

"Does he have a class here?" Zelda asks excitedly.

"I'd love to meet him!" exclaims Marcus.

"I hear he's super!" Junichi adds, speaking up for once.

"What about me?" Luigi questions, interrupting the excitement. The class is eerily silent. Luigi is dejected. "_Anyway_…maybe you'll be as great as him one day, but you'll need to work hard to get to that point."

"No kidding!" exclaims a voice at the door, and all of the class including Luigi stare eagerly at the newcomer.

Or rather, newcomers.

"Hi, guys!" Sonic greets them with a smile, leaning against the doorway. The class trembles with excitement, Junichi especially, until he is accompanied by Link, Kirby, and Samus. Luigi sags a bit at their arrival.

"Hey, this is _my_ class!"

"It's also the first day, meaning it's free game!" cheers Kirby, bouncing like a ball.

"Besides, we established this school, so we're pretty much in charge," Samus chuckles, standing next to Sonic.

"Except the principal, of course," Link snickers under his breath.

"Daddy!" Zelda cries happily, throwing up her hands. Link waves, then greets Damien as well. Damien is not as easily amused.

"Either way, why are you interrupting my class?" Luigi questions, sitting back down at his desk now that his class has been hijacked.

"Hey, this is Heroic Basics 101," Sonic explains, entering the class and jumping onto the desk. "And we're basic heroes!"

"In this school, not only will we be teaching you what you need to know to be a successful hero, but other skills as well, like weapons training if you specialize there, or ability enhancement to sharpen up your skills," Samus adds, talking to the students.

"But don't take it from us," Link put in, stepping to the side of the door.

"Take it from him!" Kirby gestures to the door as Mario enters, waving at the class.

"Principal Mario!" gapes Tenn, Pink, and Lulu.

The class gasps and bows as if a God has entered. Luigi simply face plants on his desk.

The renowned plumber comfortingly pats his brother on the back, then picks up the piece of chalk. He walks up to the board, writing a rather lengthy sentence on the board. Everyone in the room watches him devise such an elegant sentence. Upon completion, Mario steps away, the entirety of the class reading what was written.

"Rule number one of Heroic Basics 101," they chant in unison. "No matter what you do, no matter how much good you do for your world or universe…someone will always be there to oppose you."

"In translation," chimes Link, Sonic, Kirby, and Samus. "Your arch enemy."

Mario nods with a solemn smile, and Luigi really would have liked to be the one to tell the class that.

**Meanwhile in First Period in a whole other school-**

A tall figure picked up his papers, scanning them as he sat at his desk. A few watching eyes stared at him as he did so, most of them with unbridled hatred.

"Now, before we begin, I believe attendance is in order. As I call your name, you will advise that you are here, followed by where you are from and who signed you up for this school, just for clarity. Understood?"

Several muffled yeses followed. There were only seven students in this class, but they probably had more personality than all of the thirteen future heroes combined.

"Zeborah Dragmire?"

"Present," stated a Gerudo teenager. She had blazing red hair, tanned skin, golden eyes, and a typical Gerudo woman's outfit, only colored with magenta. Her gold slippers tapped the floor impatiently. "I'm from the Gerudo Desert in the land of Hyrule...and am in fact its princess. Daddy signed me up so I can be just like him when he's gone…you know, if he ever stops reincarnating."

Zeborah stood up and whipped out two identical swords, spinning around the room with them crazily. The other students were shocked at how gracefully she moved with them in her hands, not slicing a single desk in the room. Eventually, she spun around right back to her desk, sitting down and smiling when the back corner desk spontaneously fell to pieces.

Applause followed after, but Zeborah wasn't finished. She raised her hand at the fallen desk and expelled purple flames out of her palm, lighting the desk on fire, yet containing it so it didn't spread. Once the desk was nothing but smoldering ashes, the class applauded again, and the teacher seemed pleased.

"Impressive. I believe you'll do fine one day, young Zeborah…next we have Connor Robotnik."

"I am present," responded a blonde teen, wearing a long red coat and black pants. He sat with his gloved hands neatly folded on the desk and back erect. "I hail from Mobius, after my family relocated there from Earth…my uncle registered me here at this facility to sharpen my IQ, hone my skills at engineering and science, and defeat his arch nemesis one day, if not his successor."

"Also very respectable," the teacher agreed, shuffling the papers. "…Prince Penji?"

"That would be me," stated a small penguin boy sitting behind Connor, waving happily. His cheerful demeanor was frowned upon. "I'm from Popstar, Dreamland to be exact…and I'm in line to inherit the throne to that glorious place, thanks to my adoptive father…I'm here so that when I do inherit the throne, I'll be able to rule Dreamland with an iron fist!"

"You've got a long way to go," the teacher grumbled. "You look like a plush toy! What kind of abilities do you even possess?"

"None,_ exactly_," Penji explained nervously and semi-lied, wringing his mittens around. "That's why my father gave me this!"

He produced a small mallet, which received laughter from his fellow classmates and the teacher. However, he let out a battle cry, causing the mallet to suddenly have fire jet out the side of it, and slammed it into the ground, resulting the very floor beneath them all to crack and even conjure up an earthquake that rattled the room. The students held onto their desks as they rattled, Penji putting the mallet away and returning to his desk.

"Mmm, Quake-conjuring Jet Mallet! Perhaps I was wrong about you!" the teacher commented, nodding.

Penji smiled cutely back.

"…Er, anyway, um, Hel?"

"Call me_ Holle_," hissed a girl in the back. She had black boots, a gray dress that seemed to have a mind of its own, long black hair that also floated on its own, amber eyes, a red brooch with a skull on it, and a huge silver staff that was clenched tightly in her hand. The class gulped and scooted their desks a few inches away. "Oh, no. Despite my appearance, I am not to be feared. I am to be respected. You see, I'm Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of the Afterlife, and one day, you're all going to die. So if you want a heaven-like afterlife, you're going to have to please me."

Her staff started to glow, a few souls swirling around in the blackish purple orb adorned at the top.

"However, if you don't, you have to spend eternity _in a living Hell_! Ah ha ha ha ha! _Ah-"_

"Hey, hold up," interrupted Connor, still sitting poised with his hands folded. "Isn't judging souls a neutral job?"

"Yes, that is true," Holle agreed, ceasing her manical laughter and tapping her staff on the floor. "I'm really not a bad person. Just being associated with death automatically puts me on the bad side of things."

"So why are you here?" Connor asked. Zeborah leaned forward in her seat as she smiled at Connor.

"Yes, he's got a point…"

"Well, nobody's perfect. I'm only queen because recently, the previous King of the Underworld, Hades, was felled by Pit, and now I have to fill in for him. I reanimated Medusa again and made her my advisor, and you wouldn't believe how annoying Thanatos is. Seriously, he never shuts up! But I digress. I'm here 'cause I don't like Angelina. She's such a prissy angel, and maybe defeating her will screw Skyworld up. Should prove to be a hilarious sight."

"Mmm, I see, you little creep…" the teacher muttered. Holle glared at him, and the souls in her staff became irritated. "Dash Bowman?"

"Here," said a boy resembling a monkey, scratching the back of his head. "Let's just say I'm the grandson of Andross, and I'm here because I was rejected from the new team Star Fox, and my cousin has pretty much replaced my grandpa, so…I want to get revenge, or something. I don't think I have a morally evil drive, though."

"Well, this school will whip you into shape, no problem," chuckled the teacher, moving on. His gaze shifted to the next name and he nearly had a heart attack. "…Darcy O'Donnell? !"

"Here!" exclaimed a female wolf decked out in purple. She smirked, drumming her fingers on her desk. "Let's just cut to the chase with me. I'm taking after my long lost uncle and hoping to take over Star Wolf in the future…and I'm here because I really don't like Marcus McCloud. He's _so_ full of himself!"

"I know where you're coming from," the teacher sighed, shaking his head as he read off the final name. "Ah, yes! Bowser…_Junior_! Let's hear a little bit about yourself."

"You already know enough about me, _Dad_," Junior muttered, head down on his desk. "You forced me to come to this totally lame school that you and you big bad friends built just because the _heroes_ built a school…this place is run by _idiots_!"

"This place is _not_ run by idiots," Bowser, the teacher, insisted with a fist shake. "It is run by the greatest masterminds in the universe!"

Bowser arose from his desk, flames bellowing out the sides of his mouth and rising along the walls. The seven students gasped as the flames closed in, but did nothing to harm them. Bowser seemed extra daunting as he grinned among the flames he created.

"One day, the worlds will be in the hands of new heroes, and the current generation of evil will be too old to stand against them…so that's why we have you guys! You'll learn everything you need to know to be evil, deadly, deviously deviant…you will succeed where we have _countlessly failed before_!"

Bowser's bellowing laugh echoed all throughout the school, reverberating off the walls. The students waited until he was finished before Holle asked, "When's lunch?"

"I have to go pee!" cried Penji.

"The boy next to me is _really_ cute," Zeborah chuckled, winking at Connor who was now madly blushing.

"Junior was right- this_ is_ for idiots," commented Darcy, with Dash agreeing.

"Of course I'm right!" exclaimed Junior. "And when I rise to power, I'll take out Mario and all his descendants! Gra ha ha ha!"

"That's my boy," Bowser sighed, although he suddenly became really happy when the bell rang.

The learning was just beginning.

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**This was originally going to be a oneshot, but I just _had_ to have character development, a bunch of ideas and elements I wanted to use, and _some_ plot just had to surface...so it went from one chapter to ten. :P I was debating on posting this, but I didn't slave over this for two weeks for nothing. ^^**

**Anyway, this is probably the first time I have to do an official claimer/disclaimer. I only own Prince Damien and Princess Zelda (not _the _Princess Zelda-imagine that Zelda had a kid who ended up like Link), Junichi the Hedgehog, Elysia Aran-Higgs, Coby, Angelina, Tenn, Pink, Purple, Starlos, Zeborah Dragmire, Connor Robotnik, Prince Penji, Darcy O'Donnell, and Hel aka 'Holle'. Yeah, "only". *brick'd* **

**I do not own: Marcus McCloud, Lulu Hare, Slippy Toad, Dash Bowman, Bowser Junior, and obviously none of the famous heroes and villains that make apperances in this story. If there are any questions, never be afraid to ask!**


	2. What we are Getting Into

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 2: What We Are Getting Into

The first part of the day had only just ended, with the thirteen students of Hero High excitedly flooding out of their first class and looking forward to whatever was coming their way next.

"Ooh, the lecture Principal Mario gave us was so informative!" squealed Tenn, tugging the straps of her backpack and skipping down the hallway with some of the other kids. "I'm really glad I didn't miss that!"

"Luigi seemed really depressed afterward though," Starlos recalled, shrugging. "Can't imagine why."

"I don't know about you guys," Skippy began, hopping by and placing stuff into his locker. "But I am _loving_ school so far!"

"Me too," Pink said with a smile. "We have to remember, we're only here because the heroes want reliable people to replace them when they're gone."

"It's a very good idea," Angelina agreed, flying down the hall next to Pink. "I hope we'll do a good job when it's our turn!"

Meanwhile, Damien, Zelda, Junichi, Elysia, and Coby were walking to their next class together, discussing their first day so far.

"…I find this school to be very beneficial," Damien continued, his cape swishing behind him with every step. "Mother was wise to send me to such a vicinity."

"Ugh, you even_ talk_ boring," Zelda complained, grabbing her pointed ears. "Why can't you act like a normal teenage boy?"

"Still your tongue, sister."

"See what I mean? What kid says THAT?"

"Zelda, go easy on your brother," Elysia interrupted, smiling down at the girl in pink. "He only has the best interests at heart, even though he _could_ stand to show a little emotion every once in a while…"

"Hey, as future King of Hyrule and the leader of this group, I _have_ to have the best interests, otherwise my reckless little sister will probably lead us all to our doom before we ever go on our first adventure one day."

"You're only leader because Mario never had a kid," grunted Zelda, folding her arms. "Link was second in command in his team, and you're older than me, so that's the only reason you got the position. I, for one, believe _Elysia_ should lead us."

"Wh-what? Me? N-No, I couldn't…" Elysia scrambled to say, shaking her hands. "If I got angry…I could hurt you guys…"

"And tear into our enemies like no one's business!" exclaimed Zelda, throwing her hands into the air again.

"Guys, calm down," Junichi ordered quietly, once again staring at the old pair of shoes Sonic had given him. "All this arguing will set us apart…"

"See, Juni has a point. Let's just try and keep it together," Elysia suggested. Both Damien and Zelda grumbled something under their breath as Junichi grinned.

"Thanks, Ellie."

"No problem, Juni…and remember, if Purple messes with you again, just come and get me and I'll show him _these_."

Elysia bent down and hissed, a set of Metroid teeth springing out of her mouth and craving to suck the life out of anyone. As long as she wasn't angry, Elysia could control it, but her mother's Metroid DNA and her own uncontrollable anger were a deadly combination.

Instead of recoiling in fear like he would if it were anyone else, Junichi simply giggled.

"Not to make anyone panic or anything," Coby started up, riding his Warp Star alongside them all. Elysia quickly retreacted her fangs as the other gave him their attention. "But we're gonna be late for class, and Kirby's teaching it! I don't want to be late!"

"Right, Coby, let's get going!" Damien agreed, beginning to pick up the pace. Zelda trudged behind him, with Elysia and Junichi jogging behind. Coby blinked, smirked, and revved up his Warp Star, zooming down the hallway at an alarming rate and bypassing his friends.

**Second Hour, Heroic History-**

"Hello, Class…" Kirby began, donning a mustache and a monocle as he greeted his pupils. Coby was notably_ less_ excited about this class. "I am Professor Kirbis Mackaloy Ferdinand Piper Sandwich Smith! But I suppose you can call me Kirby for short."

"Oh, I was _so_ wrong… why didn't you guys talk me into being late?" whined Coby, trying to hide his head with his stubby red arms. Damien shook his head.

"We wouldn't be punctual, then!"

"Calm down, Coby," Marcus stated with a grin. "I'm sure it won't be that bad!"

Kirby's class room was most likely the brightest in the school- there were several lights running along the ceiling, plus the walls were painted with so many colors that many of the students would claim that they were shades undiscovered by man somewhere in the menagerie. Starlos commented that a kaleidoscope must have exploded.

Kirby liked the style of his classroom though, so nobody paid it much mind. It was colorful, cheerful, and fun, just like Kirby. Said instructor eventually whipped off the disguise and plopped himself on top of his desk.

"Anyway, this class is designed, by me, to educate you in the proud history of heroes before you, and also make your own place in history! After all, every hero has their niche, and here you will learn what yours is! Then we'll blow it completely out of proportion until you can do things like fly out of an erupting volcano while carrying two people!"

Kirby looked proud of himself as members of the class "Ooohed" and "Ahhhed".

"To begin, I'll demonstrate my own special ability that gives me my place in the world. Who would like to be a volunteer to help me out? Sorry Coby- you already know you can't help me."

"I wasn't going to raise my hand," the red Star Warrior muttered.

Lulu, Tenn, Angelina, Purple, and Zelda eagerly raised their hands, but Kirby ultimately decided that Tenn would be the best choice and called her up. The girl skipped up to the front, her sneakers squeaking against the tile floor. Kirby jumped off the desk and faced Tenn, smiling up at her.

"This may be a little gross…"

Tenn struck a battle pose and prepared herself. "I can handle anything!"

"Excellent quality for a hero to have! Now, behold!"

Kirby's mouth opened wide, beginning to inhale. It was so powerful that everything in the room began to rattle, and Kirby didn't quit until Tenn found herself swallowed by Kirby. The class watched with awkward eyes as Kirby copied her abilities and spat her out. Tenn landed on the floor, slightly covered with slobber, and watched as Kirby was now wearing her headband, T-shirt, and backpack.

"Behold! Tenn Kirby!"

"The names are never original," sighed Purple.

Kirby then proceeded to take aim at a desk with his hand and his mind, beginning to make it float in the air. The class applauded as Tenn smiled.

"Hey, I can do that too!"

"I know- I've copied your abilities and can now use them for myself. That's kind of my compensation for not having an actual ability of my own, although I can float and fluently use a Final Cutter and a hammer." A smirk then slowly grew on his face. "But let's see what else Tenn has in her arsenal!"

Tenn took a few steps back as Kirby called out, "PK Fire!", unleashing a small bit of flames on the ground. He then proceeded to use PK Freeze, PK Thunder, PSI Magnet, and PSI Energy. Once the last move was completed, everyone was surrounded by explosive bursts of neon, resembling powerful and potentially painful fireworks, with Tenn taking her seat again and rubbing the back of her head.

"Whoa, that last move was really pretty," Lulu exclaimed, playfully messing with her gray ear. Tenn just blushed and shrugged.

"PSI Energy is kinda my signature move...I call it that since I'm pretty energetic, heh."

"Can you do anything else, Tenn?" Skippy asked out of curiousity.

"Well, no, although I have been trying to perfect PK Starstorm. However, I just can't get it right…I always end up blowing my powers back up in my face."

"That's all right!" Kirby assured, removing Tenn's ability and reverting back to normal. "After taking this course, you'll be able to tap into abilities that you didn't even know you had!"

Pink raised her hand, and Kirby called on her.

"Um, what if you _directly_ don't have any abilities?"

"Good question! You're a Pokémon Trainer, correct?" Pink nodded. "Then, for you, this class will help your Pokemon gain experience, help them learn new moves, and increase the bond between them and their trainer!"

"Oh, cool!"

"That does sound helpful," Purple admitted, looking interested.

"Would you like to show us your Pokémon, Pink?"

Pink stood up and shrugged. "Oh, why not?"

She produced five pink Pokeballs, tossing them into the air.

"All right you guys! Front and center!"

The five Pokeballs hit the peak of their toss, releasing the five Pokemon on the ground. A Kadabra, an Espeon, a Kirlia, a Duosion, and a Mime Jr. landed on the ground, greeting the class stylishly. Pink clenched her fist in determination.

"One day, I'd like my sixth member to be a Mew or Mewtwo…that'd make my psychic Pokémon collection complete!"

"Good luck catching either of them," Purple mumbled unenthusiastically. "Especially with _those_ Pokémon."

"Hey, I like them!" Angelina decided, petting Espeon. "They probably will be very powerful one day!"

"Kirlia!"

"Hey…" Pink began, slowly smirking and gaining an idea. "Kirlia, use Psychic!"

"Kirlia!"

Kirlia's eyes began to glow as all the desks in the room began to levitate; eliciting giggles and gasps from the students.

"Get me down! Get me down!" cried Junichi, clutching his desk tightly.

"That does it- you are my next best friend!" Tenn chuckled with applause. "I thought_ I_ was psychic, you know?"

Pink beamed as Kirlia set down the desks, with Kirby clapping afterward. He took a few steps forward and nudged Pink back to her seat. Retracting her Pokémon back into the balls, she returned to her seat. Purple just scoffed, and Pink gave him a menacing glare.

"They're impressive," Purple continued with a shrug. "But I think mine are a little more…_impacting_."

"Would you like to show us yours as well?" Kirby asked cheerily, back to sitting on his desk.

"Please, no," Junichi begged quietly. "He'll probably sic one of them on me…"

"Yeah, the last thing we need is to step on a Toxic Spike," murmured Elysia.

"None of my Pokemon have even _learned_ that move!" Purple shot back, sounding a bit offended.

"Easy, children," Kirby ordered, and stillness returned to the room. "Everyone deserves a chance to express themselves. As I have given Tenn and Pink a time to shine, Purple should have just as much right to a moment in the spotlight as well. It can't be that bad!"

"…right," Purple agreed somewhat reluctantly, producing six purple Pokeballs and tossing them into the air. "Show them you're the best, you guys!"

Out of the Pokeballs came Nidorino, Seviper, Grimer, Koffing, Trubbish, and Drapion. While Nidorino, Seviper, and Drapion appeared quite intimidating, Grimer, Koffing, and Trubbish had a foul odor that permeated the air…and was probably toxic as well.

"Gross," complained Angelina, pinching her nose in disgust.

"Anyway, my goal is to be the first person to discover the first Poison type legendary Pokemon," Purple explained, patting Drapion. "I'm pretty sure someone will beat me to it, but at least I've got something to work for."

"That's respectable," stated Kirby, and Purple retracted his Pokémon back into their Pokeballs. Kirby then jumped off the desk and trotted over to a closet, opening it and being dog piled by a ton of miscellaneous objects. A few of the students cringed, but Kirby simply poked his head out from the top of the pile and produced a box.

"Of course, you won't be able to fully understand yourself until you understand the history!" he dragged the box behind him as he made his way down the aisle, handing a book to each student. Each of them was bright red, and Lulu stared at the cover with confusion.

"'The History of Nintendo?'" she asked, reading the title. "What's Nintendo?"

"I feel as though it doesn't apply to me," Junichi spoke up, only to take it back. "Not that I'm trying to be smart or anything, I just-"

"The answer to what Nintendo is, is a question within itself!" Kirby explained, producing a pipe and blowing bubbles out of it. Coby groaned rather loudly after that. "Some say it's the name of our universe, while others say it's the name of the beings above who created our worlds…kinda like 'leaving luck to heaven', you know? I just like it because it sounds sweet!"

"It still feels out of place to me," Junichi murmured under his breath, but said nothing beyond that.

"This book is filled with tales of the heroic things heroes have done all across the worlds, whether they're about the heroes in this very school, or of valiant champions from places you've never heard of before! Each of them has found their own little place in their world, which allowed them to unlock the key to reaching their full potential!"

"So, you're hoping that if we study this, we can find our own potential and increase our abilities' effectiveness?" Damien asked.

"Yes, exactly!"

"Teacher's pet!" sniffed Zelda, carelessly dismissing her brother's words.

"For example, take the great hero Olimar!" Kirby exclaimed, flipping open the book. "Although some of his methods were questionable, Olimar helped a near-extinct tribe of creatures called 'Pikmin' reproduce and gain the courage to fight back against the predators that roamed their planet!"

"That's kinda cool," admitted Marcus with a chuckle.

"After discovering a relationship of symbiosis, Olimar was able to help the Pikmin, and found satisfaction in doing so. Even though the first time around he had a thirty day limit, he still did what he could to improve their living status. In turn, he was able to go back home…only to return once again, and see that the Pikmin had indeed grown stronger, and all because of Olimar…"

"So…" Starlos began, tapping his hand on the desk. "Because Olimar found that he could help the Pikmin, he was able to see that there was more to him than he originally thought?"

"Yup," Kirby replied with a nod. "Link and Samus know him personally, so you might have to ask them for more details, but it was a humbling experience for him from what I heard."

Skippy scratched the back of his head. "I don't get it! Compared to what other people have done, that seems so small…"

"Well Skippy, it's the little things that can truly define a hero. After all, I started out pretty small," Kirby explained with a small smile. "Whether it comes from capabilities or personality, only you can mold yourself into a hero. We're just here to help you get started on the path that you'll walk on for the rest of your life."

Everyone applauded at Kirby's speech, Coby even taking back his previous statement and feeling proud of his mentor. Kirby then jumped down, reached into a mini fridge built into his desk, and produced a ton of food.

"Now, before we continue searching deep within ourselves to find our true potential…who wants a snack?"

_"ME!"_ shouted thirteen voices, scrambling up to the front of the room.

**Second Period, Magic and Swordplay/Antiquity Lessons-**

"…so, whether you are gifted with supernatural powers or wield a weapon, this is the class for you…"

Ganondorf Dragmire whirled around, holding a maniacal glowing hand out to his pupils. The pupils were not amused.

His classroom resembled a dungeon, which was a stark contrast to Kirby's with its monochrome color scheme. There was only one window, and the room was lit by sconces on the stone cold walls. A few chains hung from the ceiling- and Ganondorf promised that they were just for show.

Junior couldn't help but snicker at the picture of the Triforce on the back wall, however.

"Prepare to be educated as I fill your mind with spells for the magically gifted or train you to wave your weapon in never before seen ways…and also inform you well with the ways of villains of old- there's even tales of me in past lives!"

He first began by creating massive purple flames, similar to what Zeborah had done last hour. They swirled around the room like fireworks, captivating the audience with its glow. Ganondorf then put them out and unsheathed a sword, swinging it around and chopping his desk right in half. All seven students jumped, then applauded Ganondorf's show of skill. Dash's hand went up, and once his sword was put away, Ganondorf called upon him.

"Um, yeah…" Dash began, holding up a book titled, "History's Evilest". "I glanced through this book that you gave us, and…all the villains in this book have failed. Some of them more than three times."

"Yes, I looked at it too," Holle interrupted, sitting with her legs crossed. "At the very back it says '…and they all died. The end'. I know that's a classic happy ending, but it's not very reassuring."

"Plus these books look like you fished them out of a dumpster!" exclaimed Darcy, holding hers by a tattered corner. "Talk about a lack of class!"

"That's so we can learn from history and prevent it from happening again!" Ganondorf exclaimed, raising a fist. "The only villains who are still around today to tell the tale have been placed into this school to tell secrets of our successes-"

"You haven't had any," Holle pointed out. "This school shovels us with lies!"

"Yes, since most villains don't succeed, there's not enough in this vicinity to supply an adequate amount of education," Connor pointed out. "In other words, that's why_ you're_ teaching two subjects."

The classroom grew dark, seemingly reflecting Ganondorf's mood as he folded his hands behind his back and paced in the front of the room.

"It might be true that Villain Prep is nowhere near as fancy or refurbished as Hero High…but you should be blessed that you have a place to attend, for the oh so revered folks at Hero High would never allow the likes of you into their building without a fight…"

His boots clomped against the linoleum floor, which was enough to make Penji shudder a bit.

"No, we here at Villain Prep have our illustrious principal to thank…for if it wasn't for him, a long line of villainy would come to an end. It was he who has gifted us with this chance to keep the evil spirit alive! But I digress…"

The lights became brighter, along with Ganondorf lighting up his hands in flames once again.

"We won't start the historical side of my class until later in the year, so right now, we'll be focusing on my specialty- striking fear into my enemies with my brute strength, magic powers, and talent with a weapon! I can't wait to break down buildings, bust down walls, kill a few people-"

"Ah, yes, before we move any farther, I do have a question," Connor began. Ganondorf sighed, irritated at being interrupted, and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, what do you want, Nerd?"

"I don't exactly have a preferred weapon or any special powers…I just build what I need at a given time."

"With that attitude, you're building a way straight to detention!"

"Ha ha, word play!" cackled Holle from the back. Zeborah simply shook her head.

"Daaaaad, not him! He's cute and you're ruining my chances with him!"

"At least it's not my dad," Junior sighed. "Yikes…"

Ganondorf's eyes went ablaze. "Zeborah Janet Dragmire, you are too young to date!"

"Your middle name is _Janet_?" snickered Darcy. "Now that's a yikes!"

"Oooh…" Zeborah slammed her head onto her desk as Ganondorf strolled up to Connor.

"You'd better stop using your supposed attractiveness on my daughter, you hear? She's like a pure Gerudo flower and I won't allow you to pick her!"

Connor was as red as his coat, eventually sliding his goggles over his eyes to block out the sight of Ganondorf. Holle burst out laughing once more.

"Oh man, THIS is MY favorite class," she heckled. Ganondorf looked up from Connor and glared at Holle.

"You keep quiet, Miss Hel. Although I do have my killer sense of humor, and I do appreciate you taking pleasure in other people's pain, your laugh is really obnoxious and I must put an end to it."

Holle narrowed her eyes as her staff began to tremble. "Oooh, I'm already thinking of a deep dark pit to stuff you in when you die!"

"Ha! And again I say, Ha! I don't _die_- I'm reincarnated hatred! Good luck getting your blood-stained hands on _my_ soul, Missy!"

Holle eventually calmed down and looked away. Ganondorf then glanced back at Connor, who was receiving a note from Zeborah. Fuming, he snatched the note right out of Connor's hands and read it aloud.

"Sorry about my dad, Connor- he can be a real blockhead? ! Will you go out with me? ! **ARGH**!"

Connor now had his head buried in his desk while Zeborah was nervously fiddling with her assorted jewelry. Holle, Darcy, Dash, Penji, and Junior all tried their hardest not to snicker as Ganondorf looked ready to blow.

"Ooh, there is _fierce_ punishment coming your way when we get home!"

Zeborah just sighed and rested her hand on her cheek. "Whatever."

Grumbling, Ganondorf decided to get back to the subject at hand. "For the time being, who here has their own weapon on hand?"

Penji, Dash, Darcy, Junior, and Holle raised their hands.

"Got my Mallet!" Penji exclaimed, twirling it above his head.

"I've got my laser rifle," Darcy grinned dangerously, holding up the silver and green gun for emphasis. Dash simply gawked.

"Who gives a girl a laser rifle? !"

Darcy shrugged. "Hey, when you don't know you have an uncle for several years, he makes up for lost time."

Dash rolled his eyes and produced a small blaster- it wasn't anywhere near as extravagant as the gun Darcy possessed, but it was impressive in its own right. "I just have my blaster- that I designed myself! It's as portable and convenient as a normal blaster, but has extra fire power and a farther range!"

"I have my paintbrush!" Junior explained, demonstrating by painting his name on the wall. "My brothers and sister get wands and I'm stuck with a paintbrush that I had to steal! _I'm_ the one who inherits the throne! _I_ should have a wand!"

"And we all know that I've got my staff," Holle grinned, stomping it on the ground. A shockwave of death rocketed out, briefly stunning her fellow students. "Not only does it create stuff out of thin air…it hurts if I hit you over the head with it!"

"I've got my swords," Zeborah explained with a shrug. "I've already shown them off though."

Ganondorf nodded, impressed. "All right, now how many of you have powers of some sort?"

"You already _know_, Daddy," Zeborah sighed.

Ganondorf growled as Penji, Junior, and Holle raised their hands.

"I just have my fire breath, but it counts!" Junior exclaimed.

"I…can freeze things, but it's a very small ability," Penji explained, forming an ice cube in his hand.

"_I_ can send you through the gates of Hell!" cackled Holle, now raising her staff as her hair went crazy again. "Oh, and summon magic blasts and beams, and boring stuff like that. I can turn into a beastly thing too, but it's bad for my complexion."

Ganondorf nodded again, tapping his massive palm on Connor's desk.

"Why does it not surprise me that a relative of that _fat man_ has disappointed me?"

Connor narrowed his eyes dangerously in a way that only a Robotnik could.

"First off, Professor Dragmire, he is _not_ fat. He has excess body mass. Secondly, stop staring at me like that. I'll stay away from your daughter if I don't have your consent."

Zeborah looked utterly dejected.

"And third, I can still prove my worth despite not having the requirements needed to excel completely in this class."

"He _is_ kinda cute when he talks," Holle realized with a smirk.

"He's mine!" growled Zeborah, hurling a fire ball in Holle's direction. Holle kept a straight face and simply raised her staff, absorbing the blow into the Soul Orb.

"Stop fighting over this pathetic excuse for a living being!" exasperated Ganondorf, shaking his fists and returning to staring down at Connor. "Okay then, pretty boy-"

"I'm _not _pretty!"

"-If you have a way to prove to me that you're a force to be reckoned with, then go right ahead. I'm waiting."

"Ooh no…" Penji trembled, quaking in his seat.

"This should be good," chortled Holle as Connor rose out of his seat.

"Heh heh, first day and the nerd's getting called out!" Dash exclaimed.

"And Miss Poofy Pants over there thinks nerds are cute!" laughed Darcy.

Zeborah ignored the snide comeback and really hoped that Connor wouldn't embarrass himself. The young scientist stood at the front of the class, his professor staring condescendingly at him with a wicked grin. Remaining neutral, Connor's hand slipped into his pocket.

"Allow me to introduce you to my latest creation!"

He produced a marble-sized object with an Eggman Enterprises logo on it…and simply dropped it on the floor. After moments of nothing happening, Holle and Ganondorf burst out into laughter. Before Zeborah could speak up, or Ganondorf could hit him with a stealth insult, Connor held up a single gloved finger.

"Wait for it."

The room trembled, and everyone knew the source was coming from the marble. Eventually it started growing, Connor taking a few steps back as a vehicle of sorts emerged from the compact orb. Ganondorf went slack jawed as Connor was able to climb into it, whirl it around, and aim at his fellow classmates with an assorted arsenal of an array of weapons.

"This is my Compact Assault Vehicle with Attached Weapons, or CAVAW for short. It fits into my pocket, and I can call upon it any time I need to! It comes with lasers, missile launcher, death rays, disintegration beams, and a nozzle that sprays hot fudge! Observe."

Connor grinned as one of his beams aimed down at Ganondorf, the warlock actually shaking in his boots. He then dramatically raised his hand and slammed his finger on a black button.

"FIRE!"

Ganondorf let out a legit scream as Connor doused him with hot fudge. The other students simply gaped until every drop was drizzled onto Ganondorf, with Zeborah being the first to laugh.

"Ha ha, I'm already grounded, so I've got free game on making fun of him!"

"Hee, now _that's_ true evil!" cackled Holle.

Eventually everyone started laughing as Ganondorf stood covered with hot fudge. Connor retracted his vehicle back into his pocket as he scooped a bit of fudge onto his finger and licked it off.

"I believe I have proved my worth, Professor Dragmire. Be blessed I did not use the death ray."

The bell rang, halting the laughter and cuing the students to gather up their books and trot out the door. Connor was accompanied by Zeborah, Junior, and Penji, Holle flew out the door with a wicked grin, and Darcy and Dash simply walked out together.

"That was totally awesome," Darcy chuckled, impressed by such a display of evil.

"I wish I'd thought of it," added Dash, fist bumping Darcy before they jogged out the door.

Ganondorf was left to wallow in his anger.

"…they are getting _so much_ homework tomorrow!"

. . .

"That was so cool how you stood up to my dad like that," Zeborah swooned, practically glued to Connor's side. Connor just shrugged.

"Well, it's part of being a villain- you have to show your authority!"

Zeborah's eyes narrowed dreamily, showing off her eye shadow. "I like a guy who can take charge…"

"Oh bleh," Junior scoffed, walking in front of them. "What do we have next period anyway? I can't wait to go home…"

Penji pulled out their schedule and adjusted his green hat. "Um…it says 'Science and Technology'."

"Ugh, what? That's weak! And it sounds lame! I wanna learn how to beat people up!"

"I think it will prove fascinating," Connor stated.

"This teacher's bound to be better than the previous one, right Junior?" Zeborah asked, nudging the Koopa Prince. Holle glided by, snickering mischievously.

"I wouldn't say that…"

And she continued down the hall, leaving Connor, Zeborah, Junior, and Penji very unnerved.


	3. Nobody's Perfect

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 3: Nobody's Perfect

**Third Hour, Gym Class-**

The bell rang to signal the start of the next class, with Angelina, Purple, Starlos, and Lulu running out of the locker rooms and a little late. Damien, Zelda, Elysia, Junichi, and Coby stood huddled in one corner, Lulu joined Skippy and Marcus in another corner, Angelina walked up to Tenn and Pink, and Purple leaned against the wall by himself. Starlos simply started spinning around randomly.

Then, the teacher ran in, standing before them within seconds.

"What's up, pupils!" Sonic exclaimed, blowing his whistle. "And hey, Junichi, you bein' good?"

"As always, Sonic!" Junichi responded brightly, even saluting. Sonic chuckled and turned to the rest of the class.

"There are only three rules to this class. One, always do you best and support teamwork! Two, everyone _will_ participate, and three…just call me Sonic. No fancy titles or I'll send you to the principal. I've got connections with that guy."

"So, how'd you end up teaching gym?" Starlos questioned, scratching his head. Sonic started rocking on his heels.

"Technically, this _isn't_ gym- this class is actually to hone and push your physical abilities, making you agile in the field…and because exercising is good for you anyway. Can't have a chubby hero, you know?"

"_Cough-Mario-hack…"_ Purple sputtered in a non-discreet manner.

"Ooh, hard work," groaned Angelina. "After this class I'm going to need a dip in a Hot Spring…"

"After this class is lunch, _Angie_," Sonic snickered. "And this class isn't all that bad! Do you want to be gasping for breath while staring death in the face?"

"I _have_ stared death in the face," Angelina huffed back, shaking her head. "And she might be pretty, but she's crazy."

"Anyway," Sonic continued, marching in front of the line like a soldier. "The answer to my question is no. Once you get past all the cool powers and neat weapons available, you realize that true skill comes from your physical capabilities. With a little hard work, you might be able to do something cool like _this_."

Sonic turned away from the class, crouched down a bit, and bolted to the other side of the gym. All thirteen students slammed into the golden wall with the windblown aftermath he created. They then watched as he ran right up the wall and onto the ceiling, back flipping and alighting back on the ground. He then sprung towards a corner, jumping from wall to wall. When he reached the top, he curled into a ball and flung himself at a dummy, which imploded into fluff after he shredded through it.

"And for the grand finale…"

Sonic grabbed at least five dummies within the blink of an eye, proceeding to run several circles around them afterward. A blue funnel was eventually created, with Sonic popping out, landing just in front of it, and snapping his fingers.

"Sonic Wind!"

The dummies exploded within the whirlwind, which flung the stuffing all over the place. The class just gaped as Sonic dusted his hands off.

"That's just a_ taste_ of what I can do," he explained, crouching down low and stretching his arms and legs out. "I'm also quite good with my fists and feet when the time arises."

"He is so full of himself," sighed Starlos.

"What a showoff," scoffed Purple, resting a palm on his forehead.

"Is it just me, or is the gym teacher kinda cute?" Lulu asked Marcus. Marcus looked disinterested.

"I don't think he's your type- after all, he's pretty much Junichi's dad! Wouldn't that be weird?"

"Well when you put it like _that_! Way to ruin it for me, Marcus!"

"All right, we'd better get started," Sonic carried on, picking up a ball and holding it high. "We're going to play a little game to see where our strengths are. If you primarily use a weapon, you may be at a disadvantage, though."

"Shoot," whined Zelda, throwing her cap onto the ground and stepping on it twice. Damien rolled his eyes.

"Such bad behavior for a princess."

"It's a little game I like to call Power Ball," Sonic explained, the ball now spinning on his finger. "It's sort of a combination of dodge ball and soccer. The goal is to make as many shots as you can and score the most points. However, if you are hit with the ball, you are out of the game. The team to last the longest or has the most points by the end wins."

All hands flung into the air.

"Ah, yes. You have to use either powers or physical attacks to move the ball and pass it among your teammates, with no crossing to the other side. Any other contact results in you getting out."

"Okay, that answered my question…" Skippy trailed, his hand lowering along with everyone else's.

"We're going to need Captains," Sonic stated. "Any volunteers?"

"Me," Damien said instantly, strolling forward on the spot. Zelda was groaning as she repositioned her cap back on her head. Sonic nodded, deciding that was okay.

"Anyone else?"

"I'll do it," Tenn offered, running up next to Damien. Damien nodded respectfully, gesturing to her.

"You may have first pick."

"Oh, hey, thanks!" Tenn beamed, then turned to the group. "Let's see…obviously, I think I'll have to pick Pink."

"Yeah!" Pink cheered, slapping Tenn a high five. She then looked thoughtful and turned to the teacher. "…can I use Pokémon, Sonic?"

"Yes, you can use Pokemon."

Pink sighed in relief as Purple nodded. Damien, meanwhile, picked his first member.

"Ah, yes, um…Elysia. You will be a valuable asset to my team."

Elysia smiled and joined Damien's side without a word. Tenn then picked Angelina, and that's when Elysia started nudging Damien.

"Pick Juni! Juni!"

"I was going to!" Damien hissed, waving to Junichi. Junichi cheered and rushed over to Elysia's side.

"Yay, we're together, Ellie!"

Tenn frowned now, hands behind her head and hip cocked to the side.

"Uh…Starlos."

"Coby."

"Lulu."

"Marcus."

"Skippy, then."

"...Zelda."

"'Bout time, bro…" Zelda muttered, trudging over to her brother's side. Damien shrugged.

"I have the best interests at heart, remember. And I don't like Purple."

"And the teams are evened up…" Sonic trailed, scratching his head. "Damien? Do you mind being at a disadvantage?"

"I do not, because having my sister already puts me at a disadvantage."

Zelda glowered as Purple begrudgingly walked over to Tenn's team.

Tenn, Pink, Angelina, Starlos, Lulu, Skippy, and Purple went to one side while Damien, Zelda, Elysia, Junichi, Coby, and Marcus stayed where they were. Sonic asked if everyone was ready, then tossed the ball into the air and blew the whistle.

Time started. Chaos ensued.

"Duosion, front and center!" shouted Pink, unleashing one of her Pokemon. Purple scoffed and did the same as well.

"Prepare for battle, Nidorino!"

The two Pokemon appeared front and center as Tenn started the match off, using her telekinetic abilities to grab the ball without touching it.

"All right, I hope this is how it's done…" she trailed nervously.

"As long as you use powers or physical attacks, it should be fine," Skippy commented.

"Let's just win this this!" exclaimed Starlos, pumping his arms into the air. Tenn chuckled and proceeded with the game.

"Well, all right then!"

She then grinned and hurled it down towards the other team, her opponents unsure of what to do. Damien eventually took action, jumping to where the ball was headed and crying out, "Nayru's Love!"

The blue barrier quickly formed around Damien, shielding him from the ball and also reflecting it to the other team. Angelina looked up as the ball came over to her, and she immediately grimaced.

"Oh man, I'm no good without a weapon either!"

The ball glanced off her shoulder, yet despite the light contact, it sent the pink angel to the ground. Sonic blew his whistle on the spot and pointed off to the left.

"Looks like you're the first one out, Angie," Sonic stated as Angelina glided over to the bench with her arms folded.

"No weapons, that's ridiculous…"

"Yes, the next time you see someone swinging a sword or shooting a bow in a game of baseball you come and get me, then."

Angelina huffed and blew her curls out of her face as she was forced to watch the rest of her team snap back to attention. Pink had Duosion use Gravity to pull the ball closer to the group, followed by Lulu running up and striking it with a 360 kick. She smirked as she landed back on the ground.

"Nice!"

The ball crossed the gym and flew at the other team like a rocket, with Damien barking at his teammates to get moving. Elysia was the one to heed the call, jumping into the air and kicking the ball back down with a powerful strike.

"Juni!" Elysia ordered as she crashed back down. "Next time it comes back, use a spin dash on it!"

Junichi blanched. "I'll do my best…"

Skippy slapped the ball back by outstretching his tongue, and Junichi curled up into a ball and began charging light.

"Ready…?"

The ball came down, and his team was wondering when he was going to strike.

"GO!"

Junichi was nowhere near as fast as Sonic, or Amy for that matter, but he could still perform a Light Speed Dash, which was enough to launch him into the air and strike the ball into the net. Elysia, Zelda and Marcus cheered, Angelina sighed from the sidelines, and Sonic broke out into a song and dance.

"Way to go, Junichi! Woo!"

"You're not supposed to show favoritism!" Purple exasperated. Sonic quickly caught himself and began coughing.

"Erm, yes, of course…but I'm _so_ proud!"

Junichi returned to the ground and celebrated with his team. During this, Purple decided to strike back. Tenn psychically picked up the ball and turned to Purple.

"This one's coming to you, so be ready," she told him, as Purple faced his Pokémon. He struck a pose and gestured across the gym.

"Nidorino, Sludge Bomb!"

"Nido!"

Tenn launched the ball back into action, Nidorino skidding to where the ball was. He launched a huge sphere of nastiness at it, aiming it at the still celebrating group. Damien was the only person paying attention and yelled, "Look out!"

The ball was naturally set to hit Junichi, but when Damien crashed him into the ground, he was knocked out of the line of fire and Damien was placed into it. Damien was struck by the ball, and the sludge, causing Sonic blew the whistle.

"Sorry, Damien. You are unfortunately out."

"Thanks, guys," he huffed, wrapping himself up in his cape as he turned his back on his team. He shook the sludge off said cape while trudging to the bench to sit next to Angelina. Angelina spread out her wings and simpered at Damien.

"So, come here often?"

"Great, now what are we going to do?" Zelda complained, only able to watch as Pink had Duosion use Psyshock to push the ball into the net and tie up the score while Junichi picked himself back up. "Damien is gone, and we all know I'm a sitting duck…"

"Not quite," Elysia stated, looking thoughtful. She turned to the blue fox who hadn't done much and thought of a plan. "Hey Marcus, are you good in combat?"

Marcus scratched one of his blue ears and shrugged. "I dabble. Why?"

"You and I are going to have to keep the ball from hitting anybody."

"What can we do?" Coby asked, referring to himself, Zelda, and Junichi.

"Junichi's going to make the shots, and…well, I'm not entirely sure of what you guys can do, heh heh."

"How about pay attention? !" cried Zelda, pointing at the ball. Lulu had sent the ball back over, and Elysia and Marcus were promptly on the front lines, using a combo punch to strike it. The ball plunged into Skippy's stomach, taking him out. The orange frog hopped off to join Damien and Angelina while Tenn used PK Thunder to envelop the ball and send it flying back at top speeds. Elysia and Marcus ducked, Junichi yelped and dove out of the way, and Zelda found herself flying into the wall thanks to the electrified ball.

"I am SO sorry!" Tenn cried from the other side of the gym. "I really don't know my own strength!"

"Nice power, Tenn," Sonic stated, blowing his whistle. "However, Zelda is out."

Zelda groaned loudly as she plunged herself next to her brother. Elysia sighed and kicked the ball to Marcus, who spun it into the air and had Junichi spin dash it towards the goal. However, he missed this time, and Starlos used his super spin to dart it right back. Coby got into it this time and removed his mask so he could suck the ball in, then spat it back out towards the other team.

"Poison Jab, Nidorino, go!" shouted Purple, grinning deviously and throwing his hand out. Nidorino ran towards the ball and jabbed it with a poison strike. It ricocheted off Nidorino's horn and flew back to the other team so fast that they didn't even have time to blink. It was a speed that impressed Sonic.

At least, until the ball hit Junichi.

"Dah!" the small hedgehog yelped, falling to the ground as Purple smirked.

"They're picking us off one by one!" Coby yelled as Sonic reluctantly blew his whistle.

"Sorry, Champ, you're out."

"Aw…" Junichi sighed dejectedly, going to the bench. Elysia frowned in dissapointment, until she noticed Purple looking very smug and proceeded to growl.

"That little _shrew_…"

Marcus was about to ask Elysia a question when he noticed the black-haired girl beginning to tremble, and Marcus gulped upon realization.

"Elysia, calm down, it's okay- COBY!"

"Is she mad! ?" Coby asked frantically, rushing over as Marcus nodded. Each of them grabbed a hand as Elysia went on the fritz, her head shaking and her ponytail whipping back and forth.

"What the heck is wrong with her?" Purple huffed, Pink, Tenn, Lulu, and Starlos gawking behind him. Marcus narrowed his eyes and glared at Purple.

"She's mad at you, punk!" he exclaimed furiously. "If we let her go, she'll suck the life right out of you!"

"Oooh, that's kinda scary," Lulu stated, shivering a bit.

Elysia ducked her head down, trying to hold it in, but it was too much for her to control. Those who weren't used to this side of Elysia gasped as she threw her head back and revealed her Metroid mouth, the mandibles frothing and out for life force. Purple literally flinched at the horrendous sight as Elysia battled to free herself out of Coby and Marcus' grip.

Somewhere along the way, the ball had gotten in Marcus' way, so he gave it a kick, and since no one was paying attention to the game anymore, he made a goal. Marcus would've been thrilled at that if his friend wasn't trying to kill someone.

Elysia's mandibles continued to snap in Purple's direction, and now all of Tenn's team was cowering behind her. Junichi couldn't stand to see Elysia like this for much longer and ran over to her. Lulu looked mortified as she rapidly shook her head.

"Junichi, what're you doing? !" she exclaimed in a strained whisper. "You'll get hurt!"

Junichi ignored the warning and continued to approach Elysia.

"Ellie, please stop, it's not good to be so angry," he pleaded, hugging her and being dangerously close to her face. "I know you don't want to do this, so you have to try your best not to let it control you…"

Elysia glanced down at Junichi, suddenly calming down, and retracting her Metroid fangs. Once she was no longer angry, she hugged Junichi back, and everyone sighed in relief. Sonic jogged over and bent down to Elysia, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay, kiddo?"

"Mom's so going to kill me," Elysia muffled into Junichi's shoulder. Sonic chuckled and shook his head.

"Your mom and I might not get along as well as you and Junichi do, but she'll listen to me and she'll understand. She usually does come around. After all, I AM pretty good at convincing people!"

Elysia sniffed, nodded, and pulled away from Junichi, hanging her head as she now kneeled on the floor. Meanwhile, Sonic stood back up and blew his whistle.

"Ah, I think we'll wrap things up for today." He clapped his hands and everyone gathered around, although a few were a little hesitant to stand by Elysia. "You see, Damien's team winning this game was not the point of it. The point of it was to get you guys to see how much your teammates mean to you, and how to work together in different scenarios…"

"And to get the hang of using our powers and attacks," added Starlos.

"Also to help us use different move in different situations," threw in Damien. "It helps make us more versatile."

"Yes- also true. But if this was an actual battlefield and not just a game, you would have lost five people! Next time we play, remember to look out for your teammates as well, and not just for yourself. I always put my friends before myself in a battle, no matter what. Now go get cleaned up and make yourselves presentable for lunch."

The class dispersed into the locker rooms, except for Junichi, who instead sat himself back on the bench. Sonic, who was about to get a head stat on his chilli dog lunch, noticed this and walked over to him.

"What's up, sport? I know your best friend just turned into a crazy life-sucking monster, but something tells me that's not it."

Junichi sighed, swinging his legs. "It's just…well, so far, this school day has made me realize that there's nothing really special about me. Everyone else has powers or physical prowess or a weapon, but I…I'm just me."

"It's like your mother keeps telling you," Sonic explained, taking a next to him. "You'll find your special something one day. I didn't discover that I was the fastest thing alive until I was almost ten. It'll be soon for you, I know it!"

"Okay…" Junichi trailed. "But, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, kiddo."

"If Amy is my adoptive mom, then _does_ that make you my dad?"

Sonic sucked his cheeks in.

"Not technically, no," he replied, seeing Junichi sag a little. Sonic then put a hand on Junichi's head and smiled. "But there's no one better to be a male role model for you than me!"

Junichi grinned and hugged Sonic. "Thanks, Daddy!"

He excitedly bolted for the locker room as Sonic blinked, then sunk into the bench with a small smile. This quickly went away when he heard someone snicker at the door.

"Congrats, Nic, it's a boy," Samus hummed, leaning in the doorway with her helmet off. Sonic grimaced and simply stayed where he was.

"He keeps calling me 'Dad' and it makes me feel old! But if it makes him happy, then I guess I can tolerate it…like I tolerate you calling me Nic."

Samus watched Junichi leave and simply sighed. "I'll never know how a kid like him managed to make friends with Elysia."

"Beats me too, especially since she's your offspring. Yow."

Samus took a few seconds to come up with a smart reply, but Sonic beat her to the punch with a statement of his own.

"She almost attacked Purple today."

"…He made her angry, didn't he?" Samus growled, slamming a fist into the wall. Sonic remained calm and nodded. "I told her that if she lost control even _once_-"

"It's not exactly her fault," Sonic pointed out. "It's your weird infused genes that caused that. Be happy that she didn't turn out part bird!"

Samus glowered back, and Sonic coughed and continued his point.

"Anyway, she can't really help it, you know. She tries so hard to keep it under control, but it always gets the best of her."

"Yes, but she needs self-discipline-"

"She needs reassurance," Sonic interrupted, shaking his head. "You're always breathing down her neck that you'll punish her if she even twitches an eye in fury, but it's just a natural occurrence that you're going to have to deal with."

"I know, but I hate it when she gets like that because-"

"You're afraid of her," Sonic replied simply, sullenly closing his eyes and letting it sink in. Samus had opened her mouth to reply, but instead she clenched her fist and hissed, whirling out the door in a huff.

"Who're you to tell me what to do?" he heard her growl. "You don't know anything about Elysia, and you can't tell me how to raise my daughter either, _Nic_."

When there was an unsettling silence that followed, Sonic merely whistled.

"See ya at lunch, Sam!" Sonic called brightly afterwards. He heard a loud boom follow, and Sonic had a feeling that Tails would be fixing a wall later.

**Third Period, Science and Technology-**

"Good morning, class! _So_ pleased to have you here!" exclaimed Dr. Eggman, seated at his desk and poised in the same manner as Connor. Everyone but Connor lacked enthusiasm as they stared back. "My name is Doctor Robotnik, or Professor Robotnik if you prefer. That was my grandfather!"

"Professor Dragmire said we we're supposed to call you Egghead," commented Darcy, firing a spitball through a straw. It just missed Eggman's head and splattered on the huge monitor sitting behind him. Frowning, Eggman pushed a button, and the screen cleaned itself off.

"I believe that _Professor Dragmire_ has some issues he needs to sort out…though I did hear that he got fudged today, did he not?"

"That was Connor!" Penji squealed, then covered up his mouth afterward. Connor tugged at his collar as Eggman stared down upon him.

"…atta nephew, Connor! Way to make your uncle proud! That jerk probably deserved it didn't he? No offense, Miss Dragmire."

"None taken," Zeborah replied, waving it off. "Just don't take it too far, m'kay?"

"Quite right."

"He doubted my mechanical prowess, Uncle Robotnik, and I simply had to show him that he was wrong."

"Completely understandable, my boy!" Eggman then pressed another button on his desk, this one causing the screen to light up with the name of the class. "Your third period is most likely your most practical class, so if being a crazy sociopath doesn't work out for you, you can do something else with your life! For instance, I've always wanted to become a teacher…"

He began to rant on about his hopes and dreams, with Dash falling asleep, Darcy firing more spitballs, Penji becoming completely fascinated, Holle making cow noises in the back, Junior also sleeping, Connor paying adequate attention, and Zeborah staring at the back of Connor's head and doodling little hearts on her paper.

"…and with this class, we'll have science projects, dissect a frog, build a computer, and create massive weapons that can blow up planets!" Eggman clicked his mouse and started up a slide show, featuring many of his creations…that had all been destroyed by Sonic. "You see, no matter how many times my plans are stopped, my technology allows me to keep coming up with new ones! Hopefully this class will help you build determination and character- _Miss O'Donnell_, will you _please_ stop with the spitballs! ?"

"Who's going to make me?" Darcy scoffed, firing one more and striking Eggman right on the nose. Fuming, Eggman slammed another button on his desk, this time making a red orb pop out, which quickly transformed into a robot.

"Orbot 2.0 will make you, that's who!"

Orbot then retracted back into an orb, rolled over to Darcy's seat, popped back up, and used his laser vision to disintegrate the straw. Orbot returned back to Eggman as Darcy proceeded to whine. The class applauded.

"See, with a tool and a tinker, you can make robots that do your bidding! You only have to lift a finger and push a button! Life can be made simpler with some science and technology!"

"Okay, that kind of appeals to me, but it still sounds boring," grumbled Junior.

"I already have minions that do my bidding," sighed Holle. "Incompetent, yes, but they do a decent job."

"Anyway," Eggman proceeded with the slide show, now showing a picture of Chaos. "Reading a book can help too, because then you can come across spells and rituals for evil demons to do as you say! Here we have Chaos- I found out that he was trapped in the Master Emerald by reading some ancient echidna manuscripts, and he was instantly under my control!"

"Until he became perfect and completely brushed you off," huffed Dash. Eggman frowned and moved on to the next creature- the Biolizard.

"I came across this little beauty while searching through my grandfather's research! Thus, I went searching for the Ultimate Life form-"

"-Who ended up being Shadow, who went against you, and the Biolizard turned into the Finalhazard, and _he_ never was even _under_ your control," Zeborah pointed out.

"Yes, very true, but in cases like that, I improvise!" Eggman exclaimed, switching to a picture of Metal Sonic. "There's nothing better than having your enemy fall at the hands of himself!"

"While it is true that Metal has always gone after Sonic, he wants to kill _you_ as well," Connor input. "How did _that_ happen?"

_"Blasted hedgehog…"_ was all Connor managed to hear after that, thus he returned his attention to the screen. Now there was a display of Solaris on there, and he instantly panicked.

"Ack, don't even go there!"

"I wasn't!" Eggman exclaimed, quickly changing the scene to Dark Gaia. "Ahem, continuing, this is Dark Gaia! A fearsome being that resides in the center of Mobius, I managed to discover him by shuffling through the Gaia Manuscripts and finding a way to break the planet open!"

"And as soon as he was complete he flung you into the middle of nowhere like a fat booger," scoffed Holle, cuing laughter.

"Uncalled for, Miss Hel!"

"We all know the story, _Eggman_," Darcy began. "You summon a crazy monster with your machines, it betrays you, and Sonic proceeds to beat it back where it came from."

"Hey, the Time Eater actually obeyed me!" Eggman pointed out. Dash rolled his eyes.

"No one even knows what really went on between you and Time Eater. All anyone knows it that _two_ Sonics beat you like an egg!"

"That's not entirely the story, Mister Bowman-"

"So, is this class really to teach us how to cope with failure?" Penji asked innocently.

"It'd go hand in hand with history, that's for sure," snickered Junior.

"AAAARGGH!"

Eggman pounded his fists onto his desk, activating several operations at once. Coffee spurted out of his coffee maker, his test tubes exploded, the screen went on the fritz and fell off the wall, and Orbot 2.0 jumped out of the desk and leapt out the window. The class just stared blankly as everything went haywire. When the fiasco finally came to a stop, Eggman was drenched with coffee, had a party hat tilted on his head, eggs on his goggles, and it didn't help that his theme song was playing. Eventually Junior stood up and walked to the front, gesturing to Eggman.

"And class, this is why technology sucks!"

Applause followed, the bell rang, and Holle was the first one out the door, screaming something about lunch. Upon hearing the magic word, the rest of the class bolted, yet Connor stayed behind to shut off the theme music. Eggman just blinked and heaved a sigh.

"Get ready, Connor, because we're starting a unit on how to clean a classroom tomorrow."

"I'll have an automatic broom built before then."

* * *

**Well, Samus appears to be quite peeved, and I do feel bad for Eggman- he genuinely wanted to teach and they all gave him such a hard time. xD Regardless, I'm really looking forward to the next few chapters!**


	4. Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 4: Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul

**Cafeteria-**

Coby certainly shared one trait with his mentor-his appetite. He probably had three meals worth of food piled onto his lunch tray, and he told the lunch lady that he was coming back for seconds. She narrowed her eyes and shook a ladle at him.

"You're not the only child in this vicinity, you know!"

Coby shrugged. "I know, but your cooking is amazing! …how'd you end up as the lunch lady though, Princess Peach?"

Peach fumed as she shoved her ladle into a pot. "The same way Luigi became a teacher and Zelda ended up as a librarian…and I am very fortunate that I'm not in her place, just saying. Besides, I like cooking!"

She produced a piece of cake and handed it to Coby, who swallowed it in one bite.

"Cool! Thanks!"

"Anytime," Peach replied with a wink, waving Coby goodbye. Coby took his mountain of food over to a table that his usual group was sitting at, sliding in a spot next to Junichi.

"Isn't this food amazing?" Coby asked, sucking up some juice and a few pretzels. Junichi nodded.

"Yes- Peach makes everything!"

He proceeded to devour a chili dog as Elysia enjoyed some Chinese food. Zelda had a plate full of "Jelly Ultraz" while Damien was enjoying a salad and looking around the room. Tenn, Pink, Starlos, and Angelina were grouped at a table, and Future Team Star Fox was talking about their next few classes.

However, when Pink accidentally spilled her drink, Knuckles walked in with cleaning equipment to take care of it. Damien raised an eyebrow.

"What's Knuckles doing here?"

"He's the janitor," Junichi coughed, shoveling in another bite of chili dog. "It was supposed to be a prank, but you know how seriously Knuckles takes things."

"I heard that Malon is the school nurse," Zelda pointed out, dipping a green mushroom into Jammin' Jelly and devouring it. "If you're hurt, she'll just play the Song of Healing and you'll instantly feel better!"

"Tails is the repair guy, and Meta Knight is the bus driver," chuckled Coby. Elysia looked confused.

"Why do we need a bus when most of us can teleport?"

"It was another prank."

"Ah."

"I also heard that they might start up a school for sidekicks," Junichi explained. "Then when we take over for the heroes, we'll have our own sidekicks to fight by our side!"

"There's no one better than Team Luigi to run that school," mused Damien, gnawing a lettuce leaf.

"If that does happen, then who will be our homeroom teacher?" wondered Zelda.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and Mario can teach us!" cheered Coby, high fiving Junichi. Damien then completed his salad and excused himself from table, rising to leave the room. Zelda stared at him with disgust.

"Where are you going?"

"I am going to go survey the library, if it is all right with you," Damien explained, swishing his cape as he made his leave. Elysia shrugged as she bit off a Won Ton.

"That's fine with me," she said, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. "Damien was always interested in books…"

"He's not going for the books this time," Zelda grumbled, pulling her hat over her face. Coby blinked.

"Then what's he going down there for?"

"…He's going to go see Mom."

Elysia and Coby were silent with understanding as Junichi nervously fiddled with gloves. Coby then realized something and turned to the hedgehog.

"Hey…does your mom work here too? I mean, everyone else is here…"

"Well…yes…" he trailed, tapping his fingers together nervously. "It's very ironic, actually…in more ways than one…"

**Down the Hall and Around the Corner-**

Purple sat reclined on a couch, his stomach growling and staring up at the one person that he really did not want to see.

The school counselor.

She tapped her pencil repeatedly on her desk as she peered at him over her unneeded glasses, reviewing the contents of the clipboard one more time. She read the final line and simply sighed, removing her glasses.

"Let's see, Mr…Purple, is it?" she began, and Purple solemnly nodded. "I've been hearing that you've had a rocky first day so far, but your actions have been less than heroic. Anything you feel like telling me before I review this piece of paper aloud?"

Purple shuffled a bit, but remained silent. Looking stern, the counselor picked up the pencil and prepared to read the complaint.

"This was given to me by Miss Aran, after having been told that you unleashed a potential threat unto the students-"

"_What_?" Purple scoffed, shaking his head. "No, I made Elysia mad apparently and she flipped out, but I-"

"Enough. Before school even started, you were harassing Junichi the Hedgehog for some unseen reason, in first hour you were reported for having an unpleasant attitude, second hour you were being quite a put down, and in third hour you directly went after Junichi in Power Ball, and also triggered Elysia's Metroid abilities. This brings me to the fact that if Marcus, Coby, and _Junichi_ hadn't taken care of it, you'd be a hollow husk right now."

"So, what are you saying, and why am I here?"

"Because, as I am a certified psychologist thanks to a sketchy online class, I have deduced that you are a confused child, although not necessarily evil, and for some reason you are targeting Junichi."

She leaned forward in her chair, her jade eyes glaring at Purple.

"Tell me, Purple…why is it that you have such a vendetta against my son?"

Amy Rose leaned back in her chair; her point had been made. Purple was sweating now- he was eyeing the red and yellow mallet laying idly in the corner, and he really hoped Miss Rose wouldn't follow his gaze and get any ideas.

Purple knew that if he didn't speak up soon, he'd probably become very acquainted with it.

He gulped, fiddling with the chains that were pouring out of his pockets, poking at his purple and black checkerboard belt, and removing his hat, revealing that he had streaked his coal black hair with purple as well. Amy twitched suddenly, silently asking the boy why he hadn't said anything yet.

"Perhaps you'll be more open with me if I am open with you," she finally said, kicking her feet onto her desk and smiling a bit. "I'm probably sure you know this, but I am absolutely in love with Sonic."

Purple moaned, but Amy held up a hand for him to stop there.

"All I ever wanted was for us to be together, to make each other happy…but he hardly says hi to me when we meet, let alone hang out with me, fall in love, get married, and have a kid of our own…"

"So you adopted," Purple stated, to which Amy nodded.

"I was ashamed at first, feeling that I had abandoned my goal of winning Sonic over one day…but in fact, thanks to Junichi, I've been able to get closer to him. Junichi adores Sonic like a son adores his father, and Sonic…well, the two of them get along really well. It's kind of like I've got a victory in a different way, you know?"

Purple only nodded.

"Ever since I adopted Junichi, my life has had more of a meaning…I'm now dedicated to caring for him, and having Sonic as his male authority figure is more a bonus than an actual win, now…" She teared up a bit, wiping the drops of water away instantly. "I've actually been happier than I've ever been, thanks to that kid, and I love him so much…"

Amy picked up her pencil and jabbed it in Purple's direction, and he was just glad it wasn't that menacing mallet.

"So, if you don't tell me why you're messing with Junichi, you'll find that you're messing with the wrong person."

Purple hesitated again, but finally sighed and relaxed.

"It's…not Junichi I'm after- it's more or less Elysia," Purple explained, hanging his head. Amy cringed.

"Ooh. Her mom's the only mom that's got more of a temper than me."

"It's nothing like what you're thinking…I've never seen two people be so nice to each other! I've never had a friend that would stick up for me or avenge me if I've been wronged…I've never even really had but one friend."

"Who's that friend?"

Purple performed a combination of a groan and sigh. "Pink. I don't blame her for staying away from me, though- I would too, the way I've been acting lately. I suppose I took the wrong approach on things, but…well, you know what it's like pursing something you can't have, don't you?"

"Yes," Amy sighed, reluctantly agreeing. "Especially when you do it in the wrong way…"

She then smiled, and Purple was actually surprised.

"But it's when we're in the wrong that we learn, and as I've learned that I don't need Sonic to be happy, you might have to accept that terrorizing Junichi to get Elysia's attention is not the right way…be nice to her (and Junichi) and she'll totally open up. She's a very nice girl when you get down to it."

Purple nodded, rising from his seat as he sensed that the session was over.

"Thanks, Amy. Maybe this was what I needed."

"Any time you need to talk, I'm here," Amy giggled. "However…"

Purple froze, his hand on the doorknob.

"Maybe you should look for friendship where you already have it. You might find something you've never noticed before!"

Purple looked thoughtful, then proceeded to open the door.

"You might be right, Miss Rose. I'll take your advice."

"Just call me Amy and leave Junichi alone, and things should be better!"

Amy waved as Purple left. Once he was safely on the other side of the door, she turned on her radio and loud as it would go and started dancing.

"YES! My first session went great! Who said counseling doesn't work? To them, I say HA!"

Amy proceeded to have a small dance party by herself, Purple walking away with the sounds of "My Sweet Passion" all around him.

**Back at the Cafeteria-**

"…and I was all, 'So, come here often?' as a joke you know, and he didn't even answer me!" Angelina complained, dining on a sandwich. "That boy is all realism and pessimism and not a speck of optimism. I think his sister has a point about him."

"I agree, but he's not all bad," Tenn pointed out, eating a plate of prime ribs. "He is a gentleman."

"He's a teenager," mumbled Pink as she fed her Pokémon some Pokemon food. "Damien needs to relax more."

"Um…" Starlos interrupted awkwardly, rising from his seat and walking off. "If we're going to talk about boys, I'm just…going somewhere…that's not here."

The three girls watched as he sprinted away with his sack lunch, simply shrugging.

"Well, okay then," Tenn shrugged, making her food levitate. "So, what's life like for you guys?"

"Mainly my day is spent serving Palutena's Army," Angelina explained, pulling a plate of Angel's Food Cake closer to her. "Being among the ranks of Centurions, it's not hard to see why I want to move up in the world. Pit promises that if anything should happen to him, I'll get to take his place as Captain!...but right now I'd be really fine if I wasn't the only angel among a group of small, muscular flying men."

"That…actually sound like my kind of heaven," Pink stated, blinking. Angelina narrowed her eyes.

"They're not hunky lifeguards, you know. It's more like, big heart, big muscles, and almost no brains."

Pink just leaned back and pretended like she hadn't said anything. Angelina continued her little tale.

"Anyway, ever since I ascended to Skyworld, there's been a new ruler in the Underworld. Her name is Hel, and when you die, she's going to be the one that determines how your afterlife goes. Luckily I was sent to Skyworld before she received that position, because she doesn't like me."

"Why not?" Tenn asked.

"Simply because of my personality. Really, I'd rather deal with Viridi than Hel…she's that bad."

"I don't have an arch enemy, yet," Tenn began with a simple smile. "I'm just the daughter of two psychics being trained by another psychic…"

"Sounds psychotic," Angelina replied, Pink bursting into laughter.

"Ness taught me most of what I need to know, along with a few tips from my father and Ana- she's my mother," continued Tenn. "The reason I'm mentored by Ness is because my dad has no offensive PSI skills, and I don't have very many defensive skills…and my dad has really bad asthma, which I unfortunately inherited."

"How come your mother doesn't just teach you offensive moves if Ninten can't?" Pink asked, once she had gotten over her laughing fit. Tenn shook her head.

"My mom doesn't like using her powers- she only uses them when truly necessary and I don't want to force her to do anything that she doesn't want to. It's not really a big deal since I'm not a chosen one or anything, as far as I know; I just want to improve in my abilities."

"Yeah, it's probably good to be trained in case the call of duty beckons to you," chuckled Angelina, spinning her Fortune Bow around in her hand. She blinked her amber eyes in Pink's direction. "So, anyway, what about you Sweetie? We all know that you're doing this just to be here, but are you sure there's nothing else?"

"I'm sure," Pink assured, fixing her cap and leaning down to tug on her sock. Where Purple wore purple and black, she was all pink and white, and Angelina noticed instantly while Tenn could care less about clothes.

"I dunno, I have this weird feeling to call you Psychic Pink and him Poison Purple…is that weird?"

"No, no," Pink replied, looking distracted. "That about sums us up."

"Is something wrong, Pink?" Tenn asked.

"No, I just…um, where _is_ Purple? He hasn't come to lunch…"

"Maybe he had a change of heart and didn't want to stink up the cafeteria with his presence," suggested Angelina, only receiving a glare from Pink.

"I'm not sure, but he'd better hurry, because Peach is about to close shop," Tenn pointed out, gesturing to Peach wrapping up a cake. Pink then stood up, picking up a pudding cup and a spoon and taking off.

"Where are you going?" Angelina demanded, waving her bow at Pink. Pink was already gone. Angelina saw that she wasn't coming back and shook her head.

"Gotta love crazy first days, right?" Tenn asked, grinning. "Way better than my old High School. Hero High rocks!"

"If Hero High is like this, I don't want to know what the norm is…" sighed Angelina.

. . .

Pink rushed down the hallway, a Chocolate pudding cup in one hand and a spoon in the other. She wasn't just looking for Purple to make sure he had something in his stomach for the rest of the day, but also to-

"No running in the halls."

Pink skid to a stop instantly, her pink high tops making a mark on the linoleum. She managed to brake right before she ran into the one that was staring her down.

As always, he was pretty intimidating.

"Hey, Cuz…" she trailed, sheepishly glancing at the ground. "What're you doing here?"

Red's eyes were hidden by the brim of his hat, and it was as if the tufts of hair that stuck out had an unseen breeze blowing through them. Pink slightly shivered.

"Haven't you checked your schedule?" Red asked, folding his arms. "I'm a teacher here too."

"What…?" Pink asked as she blinked in surprise. "I thought only members of Team Mario were teaching…"

"Well, Luigi's not a member and he teaches," Red pointed out. Pink couldn't argue there. "There are a couple of others too, but how about I leave them a surprise? After all, you didn't even know I was here until I caught you running in the hall."

"So…are you going to report me to Principal Mario for running in a hallway?"

"No, because he won't care since Sonic does it all the time. However…" he shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked off, leaving Pink behind. "I'll be seeing you seventh hour, Pink…and Purple is just around the corner."

Now Pink was nothing short of bewildered.

"How'd you know where I was-?"

Red had disappeared into his classroom. Shaking her head, she continued her original mission, running into Purple just as planned. He seemed a little different, but Pink couldn't tell how.

"Hey, Pink…"

"I can't believe I'm about to be seen with you, but here," Pink stated, handing him the pudding and spoon. It vanished in record time, and Pink realized that he really must've been hungry. "Why'd you miss lunch?"

"Miss Aran decided to complain about my behavior," Purple explained, now not looking so sluggish. "…you couldn't have grabbed me a sandwich?"

Pink glared.

"Easy, easy, I'm kidding! Thanks for thinking about me."

"I probably shouldn't have," Pink huffed, folding her arms. "After all, you've been acting like a bully all day, and I got the equivalent of yelled at by Red…and he's teaching seventh hour!"

"Yeah, I know," Purple said, blinking. "You didn't know that?"

"Everyone but me, apparently."

"Well, either way, I've been told some things that have made me realize that being a jerk isn't exactly going to get me any popularity…I was angry and jealous and got a little carried away…" Purple smiled, placing his cap back onto his head. "But that's okay, because I can make amends now."

"That's…relieving to hear," Pink finally admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "I thought I was going to have to beat you down to get you to come back to your senses!"

"Nope!" Purple was flat out smirking now, grabbing Pink's wrist and rushing down the hall, despite Pink having just been scolded by Red. "Now come on- I'm going to convince Peach to give me a sandwich or a slice of pizza before lunch is over! I'll just tell her Amy said it was okay!"

"Ah, Purple…"

**Back at the Cafeteria, One More Time-**

"Well, that certainly was interesting," said Lulu, referring to the fact that Pink and Purple had flown into the room, with Purple throwing himself at Peach and begging for a sandwich. Marcus simply shrugged and took a bite out of his own sandwich.

"I heard that Purple had to go to counseling, so it wouldn't surprise me that he's hungry."

"Why do we have a counselor anyway?" asked Skippy, having finished his lunch long before the other two and shifting around in his seat uncomfortably.

"For reasons like Purple?" suggested Lulu, and Marcus snickered. Skippy shook his head.

"No, that's not what I meant. If this is a school for future heroes, then why would they need counseling to begin with?"

"Maybe because there was nothing left for Miss Rose to have," stated Marcus. "I think the position fits her, though. She's very nice, but can get tough when she needs to be."

Lulu looked thoughtful as she bit off the end of a celery stick. "Well, anyway, back to our discussion about our next classes, I'm actually looking forward to fourth and fifth hours."

"Me too!" exclaimed Skippy, now rattling with even more excitement.

"Do you guys know who is even teaching?" Marcus asked, and upon realization, Lulu and Skippy solemnly shook their heads. "…well, that's okay, because neither do I."

"I can't wait to find out though!" Skippy announced as he, Marcus, and Lulu stood up to take care of their trays.

**Library-**

Mrs. Hyrule had been sorting through the books, making sure each of them were brand spanking new and ready to be checked out. She'd read through half of them in the first three hours alone, and she was reading one when Damien walked in, looking regal as always as he selected a dark green tomb that appealed to him, took a seat at a table, and began to read. Mrs. Hyrule raised an eyebrow and lowered her glasses (apparently all the staff had them, even if they weren't needed), and observed the boy.

As much as he loved to read, just as she did, she could tell that he was here for a different reason.

"Damien…" she began, drumming her fingers on the counter. "I think you should come over here and read, why not?"

"It wouldn't be proper," Damien replied, turning the page of "Monochromic Kingdom". Mrs. Hyrule sighed and removed her glasses.

"It's not proper for a queen to serve as a librarian, but here I am anyway, because it's something I enjoy. Now come here, son."

Damien hesitated for a few seconds, then placed a feather between the pages as a bookmark and walked over to his mother. Once he was front and center in front of her, she frowned, stood up, picked him up, placed him on the desk, and sat back down. Damien was not amused, but he also did not move.

"Mother, this isn't what a desk was built for…"

"Exactly," Queen Zelda replied, resting her head on her folded arms that were lying on the desk. "That's why children sit on desks, or break the rules, or allow themselves to be a little eccentric. Because it's the opposite of what is expected of them, and because it can be fun."

"But why?" Damien asked, sitting with his hands folded in his lap. "It's all pointless!"

"Well, Damien, when you grow up, and you want to be a little reckless, you won't be able to, so enjoy it while you still can!"

"Father is reckless," Damien grumbled. Zelda nodded her head.

"This is true."

"I just want to be like you, Mom…" Damien trailed, staring off into space as he allowed himself to pull back…just a bit. "I'll be King of Hyrule one day, and I just want to get a head start. You're so regal and proper…I'll never understand how you ended up with Dad."

"First off, dear, you're already enough like me," Zelda chuckled, patting his dirty blonde hair. "Second, I think you need to appreciate being a prince before you think about your kingly duties. I've only been queen for a little while, so you've got a long wait, especially since you're so young. My princess days were some of my best, and I kind of miss them…would you believe I was a little like your sister when I was young?"

Damien looked stunned.

"I always thought she took after Dad, with the sword skills and all…"

"She did, and she probably always will," Zelda pointed out. "It's strange. I used to be so wild and reckless as a girl, and your father…he was very quiet and cautious, but he was always looking out for me…then we sort of swapped places somewhere down the road."

"I think you just topped yourself. Dad used to be quiet?"

Zelda laughed, and since she was the librarian, no old lady would rush up to her and shush her. She then calmed down and hugged her son. "Yes, he used to never say a word. But once he got out into the worlds and met some new friends, he opened up a bit…and I, well, I was a bit of a bossy brat sometimes."

She smirked.

"I fear that's the only trait I passed on to your sister, because everything else is all Link I'm afraid."

"That's not me, though…" Damien trailed, now sounding disappointed. "I can't use a sword to save my life, and all Zelda had to do was pick one up and become a prodigy…he was so proud of her, and I felt like I let him down whenever I tried…and that was back when she still wore dresses!"

Zelda chuckled again, only more silent and sad.

"Yeah, that was the same day I tried to teach her some of her princess duties, but she gave up, yelling and screaming that she wanted to be like you and be able to use a sword! Link let her have at it, and lo and behold, she was good!" Damien frowned a bit, and Zelda put a hand on his shoulder. "Then you walked in, saying that you gave up using a sword, and learned that you can cast spells instead! It's what _you_ were meant to do, not something that you were trying to force upon yourself."

"So, where are you going with this, Mother?"

"All I'm saying is to have a little faith in your father and your sister. You may not see eye to eye with either of them, but they both love you, and you need to be nicer to your sister. No matter what she says, she really does look up to you. Now, you need to get out there and give her reason to!"

"Okay…but you and Zelda don't get along very well either," he replied quietly.

Queen Zelda was completely stone faced. "That doesn't mean I love her any less."

Damien was silent for a while, letting his mother's wisdom sink in. The bell then rang, and Damien leapt off the desk. Zelda replaced her glasses onto her face, becoming Mrs. Hyrule again.

"Get going to class, honey," she said, parting him with a kiss to the cheek. "You might be surprised."

"Okay, Mother. I'll try…wait a minute, Father's teaching fourth hour, isn't he? !"

Mrs. Hyrule coughed and returned to her book. Damien groaned and enveloped himself in his cape as he journeyed back to his locker.

**Lunchroom-**

"Blast it, Medusa, you're supposed to be back at the Underworld, and I don't want your Casserole Surprise!" cried Holle, everything in her being glowing with hatred. Medusa, snake hair and all, glared back indignantly.

"Well, I was hired on short notice to feed you little brats, so be grateful you're getting fed at all!"

"Grr…if you die again-"

"I didn't even want to come back to life, you pest! Trust me, serving under Hades wasn't a joy, what makes you think you're any better?"

"Whatever!" Holle grumbled, taking her bowl of gruel to the only table in the room.

In Villain Prep, the lunchroom was much smaller than Hero High's cafeteria, and their food wasn't as satisfactory. There was also one table, and only one thing on the menu:

Medusa's Casserole surprise.

Holle groaned once again as she sat at the far end of the table, with an empty seat between her and Darcy. Next to Darcy was Dash, and then next to Dash was Penji. Lining up the other side was Connor, Zeborah, and Junior, all seven of them reluctantly eating their lunches.

"I should've brought a sack lunch…" moaned Dash, poking at his blue pile of mush with a fork.

"How did Medusa end up being the lunch lady?" Zeborah gagged. Holle shook her head.

"I don't even want to begin to imagine…"

"At Hero High, Peach is the lunch lady, and she whips them up whatever they want!" complained Junior. "I'm just jealous that they have _options_, though! I don't want to have to stare this concoction in the face every day!"

"Anyone know a spell for turning this into chocolate cake?" Penji asked. Everyone shook their heads, until they turned and saw Holle devouring a slice of Devil's Food Cake. The group gaped as she swallowed it, leftover crumbs tumbling off her face as she asked, "What?"

"What indeed!" exclaimed Connor. "What the Devil was that?"

"That…was Devil's Food Cake. Made in Germany!"

"Ooooh…" moaned Penji, mouth drooling.

"I brought it for a little dessert, but I think it just became my lunch."

"You could've shared, woman!" cried Darcy, pulling out her laser rifle. Holle simply shrugged and licked her fingers.

"You guys were too late."

"Ugh, I can't eat this…" Zeborah complained, pushing her bowl away. "Holle, why couldn't you have made Medusa a better cook?"

"Just because Medusa is the cook doesn't mean it's my fault! Quit blaming me!"

"All of you!" yelled a very deep voice, one that could give them nightmares with a single word. The seven of them turned to the door, only to see a blue figure staring at them with a hideous look on his face. "This school has a low budget! Now shut up and be blessed that you're getting fed at all!"

They all just stared with gaping expressions. The principal snarled from where he floated above the floor.

"You'd better be grateful you're getting anything at all, for if it wasn't for me, none of this would even exist!"

He narrowed his eyes, and everyone shuddered slightly.

"And trust me, you're going to be paying me back for this…"

The principal disappeared after that, all seven students looked scarred for life. Penji even wet his pants, but he wasn't about to mention that.

"That's our principal?" gawked Junior.

"I thought Tabuu was supposed to be dead…?" Zeborah trembled.

"I didn't bring that creep back to life," sniffed Holle. "He doesn't scare me…but he's mighty ugly."

"Either way, disregarding that disturbing presence-"

"Quiet, Connor! He can probably still hear us!" cried Penji, and he most certainly did not want him to come back. Connor rolled his eyes and pulled out a small remote.

"Anyway, as I was saying, perhaps if I can reconfigure my Molecular Rearranger Zapper, or MR Z for short, maybe I can-"

The invention suddenly activated, aiming a blast at Zeborah's gruel and transforming it into an ice cream sundae. Everyone gasped, but no one as much as Zeborah. She squealed and hugged Connor.

"Oh, Connor! How'd you know that was my favorite?"

"That was an unfortunate accident and not on purpose," Connor scoffed, pressing buttons once again. "Let's see if I can recreate that with my own lunch…"

"I'd rather you do mine," moaned Dash.

Connor fired another blast, turning his lunch into a jumbo sub. When everyone gave him interested looks, he simply coughed.

"My uncle and I DO have a few things in common…"

"Please don't end up as fat as him," Zeborah pleased. "Stay a stud!"

"I'm really going to need you to cut that out."

He then turned Junior's lunch into a flambé, Dash's into banana bread, Penji's into fried chicken, Holle's into an eggplant with a side dish of fried shrimp, and Darcy's lunch became creamed corn.

"Creamed corn? ! Really?" complained Darcy, beginning to eat it. "You're just lucky it's better than the lunchroom food!"

"Hey, the blasts were designed to transform the meal into your favorite food," Connor explained, taking a bite out of his sub. Penji looked curious as he devoured the fried chicken.

"Weird how no one has pizza…"

"Pizza is so overrated," Junior scoffed, eating his flambé in record time.

"I have great taste _and_ a sick sense of humor," snickered Holle, chewing a bite of eggplant as she popped a tempura into her mouth. "I hope you know you'll have to do this every day, Connor."

"I am actually fine with this. Anything to keep that blue disgrace away from my digestive system."

"Yeah, didn't need that much detail, but okay."

"Anyway, Holle, I do have a question," Connor continued, balancing his sandwich in his hand. "How come you prefer to be called 'Holle'? There's nothing really wrong with your name…"

"I know," Holle replied nonchalantly, biting into another tempura. "I just like the way 'Holle' sounds better. Makes me feel more normal. I mean, how would you like having to go through every day with people calling you 'Hel'?"

"It suits you though," Darcy pointed out, slurping up her corn. Holle shrugged and sighed, returning to her eggplant. Dash nibbled at his banana bread until he spoke up as well.

"Hey, Penji," he started, not looking up at the small blue penguin garbed in a green variant of his adopted father's clothes. Penji pulled away from his fried chicken and acknowledged Dash. "How come you're here? You're really not the evil sort."

"Yeah…" Penji ceased eating upon being confronted by the realization. "I guess it's backstory time-"

"Oh joy, someone light a fire!" Darcy sneered sarcastically, Junior aiming some flames at his flambé.

"Now we just need some s'mores," stated Holle.

"Hey, if there's any leftover casserole, I'd be happy to oblige," Connor replied.

"I was kidding!" exclaimed Darcy, smacking her forehead.

"Anyway, continue, Penji," Zeborah said, gesturing to Penji. He nodded and started up again.

"Well, it was true happenstance, really…King Dedede was cursing around Dreamland in his car when he found me on the streets. He told me that he saw some of him in me, and decided to make me heir to the throne since he didn't have one already. Long story short, I'm prince of Dreamland, and I'm trying to learn how to rule like King Dedede is now."

Zeborah twitched her mouth in a perplexed manner. "I know we're supposed to grow up to be evil and junk, but…why do you have to rule Dreamland like a tyrant? After all, not even Dedede is completely a bad dude!"

"Kinda like me," Holle muttered under her breath, drumming her fingers on her staff.

"She's got a point, actually," Connor stated, and Zeborah nearly fainted. "Maybe what Dreamland needs is a kind ruler to match up with its already kind patrons, you know?"

"Dude, that place is nothing but a barfed up rainbow," mumbled Darcy. Zeborah sighed and simply patted Penji.

"You're not entirely a bad guy, Penji, and in actuality, neither are we."

"All this talk makes me wish I was at Hero High," sighed Dash. "If I had just been accepted to Star Fox…"

"Well, I'm glad that I'm a bad guy," Junior stated, standing up in his seat. "I'm here because my dad is the leader of a group of baddies that are unparalleled. Where many foes have fallen, they have always gotten back up to fight another fight! I'm going to need a team of my own one day…"

He turned to Zeborah.

"Someone willing to do what is needed, someone with a lot of knowledge…"

He glanced at Connor, who smiled.

"A voice of reason…"

Penji smiled when Junior looked at him.

"And…some fifth person because four is a stupid number."

"I'll do it," Holle offered. "Any excuse to get out of the Underworld every once in a while…"

"Then it's set!" Junior cheered, pumping a fist in the air. "We'll be the new Team BEG!"

"We'll need a new name, though," Zeborah pointed out.

"We'll work on it when the time comes," assured Junior with a hand wave.

"Dash and I will be the new Star Wolf team!" Darcy cried, and Dash pointed out that he'd only do that if nothing else came along. "We'll need a third team member, but the plan's a work in progress!"

"YEAH!"

They all cheered, looking forward to their future careers of evil…although Penji did take what they said to heart.


	5. Never as Bad as it Seems

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 5: Never as Bad as It Seems

**Fourth Hour, Combat Training-**

Damien, Zelda, Elysia, Junichi, Coby, Marcus, Lulu, Skippy, Starlos, Tenn, Angelina, Pink, and Purple were lined up against the wall in their next class as their teacher stalked back and forth in front of them. Damien was turned away as Zelda was excitedly bouncing up and down.

"Welcome to Combat Training!" the teacher exclaimed, finally ceasing to pace and spreading out his arms. "I am your Combat Professor, Mr. Hero!"

"I'm…just going to call you Link," Purple decided with a shrug. Link frowned at that, but recovered from it quickly.

"Anyway, to begin, I just want to explain that being a hero requires you to be in tune with your niche in fighting, which is touched upon in Heroic History. However, a key to being truly flexible is to be able to be fluent in all three types of fighting styles- physical, weapon-based, and power-based."

"Shouldn't we be taught by someone who has balanced all three types?" interrupted Angelina. "I mean, last time I checked you were one-hundred percent weapon-based. Maybe someone like Mario should be teaching?"

The class was instantly riled up again.

"That'd be amazing!" cheered Coby.

"We'd be instant professionals!" Skippy realized.

"Taught by the hands of a master!" yelled Starlos.

"Calm down! What part of 'Mario doesn't teach' is so hard to comprehend?" Link asked. "The most he did for Hero High was _only_ come up with the idea for it! Sheesh!"

Link then composed himself and began to pace again.

"To help demonstrate what this class is all about, I'll have three volunteers show off the three types of combat. Zelda will demonstrate the weapon-based type."

"Yay! Thank you, Daddy!" Zelda cheered, zooming up to the front and brandishing her sword. Angelina and Marcus sighed, sounding defeated. Link smiled and turned back to the class.

"Okay, how many of you know that you specialize in the physical form of combat?"

Junichi, Elysia, Lulu, Starlos, Pink, and Purple raised their hands. Coby and Tenn simply waved their hands unsurely.

"I kinda excel at all three," Tenn explained nervously. "But I rely mostly on my powers, so someone else can demonstrate."

"It depends on what enemy I forcibly devour and spit out," Coby replied in a completely nonchalant manner.

"I'm only proficient physically until I get my power suit, and then I'll end up being weapon-based," Elysia realized, putting her hand down. "I shouldn't demonstrate either."

"I'm not that confident in my security," Junichi added, shrugging.

"I will totally do it," suggested Starlos. "'Bout time I get a little credit!"

"All right, Starlos, you're up!" Link exclaimed, and Starlos spun up next to Zelda. "Lastly, we'll need a power-based demonstrator. Anyone willing?"

Tenn was the only one that raised her hand, waving it around excitedly.

"You demonstrated second hour," Purple pointed out, hands shoved into his pockets. Tenn realized this, retracting her hand. The class was eerily silent until Link's gaze rolled over to Damien, whose back was turned and was lost in deep thought. Link let out a puff of breath and rubbed his shoulder.

"Son? Would you care to demonstrate?"

The class turned to Damien as he faced his father. With yet another swish of his cape, he marched up to join Zelda and Starlos.

"No one else is able to, so I will take the task."

"Good to hear," Link said with a smile, stepping out of the way and placing a dummy in the middle of the room. He joined the other ten students and gestured to Zelda. "We'll start off with the weapon-based demonstration. Take it away, Zelda."

Zelda nodded, tugging on her pink cap before running forward. The sword she wielded was the brown-handled Ordon Sword, the one her father used before he obtained the Master Sword. She also proceeded to pull out a purple-colored Hylian shield, custom made just for her.

She charged at the dummy, performing a perfect stab with no issues. A horizontal slice followed after, and that was followed by Zelda circling behind the dummy and leaping into the air.

"HI-YAH!"

She performed a jump attack, a vertical slice, and a Back Slice simultaneously, with Zelda becoming serious. Her sword had a slight shine to it as she approached the dummy again, thrusting her shield into it for a Shield Attack. She sprung into the air again, doing a front flip and slicing the dummy's head open with a Helm Splitter. The class cringed at the power as Zelda landed on the ground again, her boots shifting a bit as she put away her sword.

But she was not finished.

Within the blink of an eye, Zelda let out another battle cry and brandished her sword, all while bringing it down upon the dummy with a Mortal Draw. Once she recuperated from that attack, she relaxed a bit, waiting patiently as her sword charged up, and dodging around regardless of not being in any danger. Then she swung her sword back and forth rapidly before leaping up and slamming it onto the ground, executing a Jump Strike.

"NYEAH!"

Her sword started blazing with light as she worked herself into a furious spin, performing the Great Spin and slicing the dummy right off of its post. Then, once she stooped spinning, Zelda jumped up one last time, bringing her sword straight down into the heart of dummy, completing her demonstration with an Ending Blow.

She stood up, removed her sword from the dummy, and waved it about in front of her before sliding it back in her sheath and strapping her shield back to her back. Her colleagues all applauded as Link commented coolly, "Taught her all she knows!"

"Thank you!" she exclaimed honestly, giggling as she returned back to the rest of the class. Link then faced Starlos and told him that it was his turn to go.

"Next, we will observe a physical way to fight!"

"I usually do better in the water, but I can adjust to land too!" Starlos exclaimed, whirling around to begin with. Link then replaced the dummy Zelda destroyed with another one, and allowed Starlos to have a go at it.

The green star took a deep breath, aimed himself, then performed an Ultra Spin into it. If he were underwater, it would have been much faster, but it still demonstrated a lot of strength. He did this three times to the dummy, then double jumped into the air, floating above the ground for a bit before flipping himself upside down and diving head first into the dummy. It exploded upon impact, the class gasping and applauded.

"I can also transform with certain power ups," he explained, taking a bow. "Like I said before, my real skills take true form underwater, because my performance increases and I could show you some _real_ moves, but I'm no pushover on land regardless!"

"Very good, Starlos," Link stated, joining in on the applause. He was about to let Damien take his turn when Lulu jumped to the front, spinning around and facing Link.

"If it's all right with you, Mr. Hero," she began, eyes wide. "I'd really like to show off what I can do physically, if I may."

Link pondered this a bit, then shrugged. "Eh, why not? Only because you called me Mr. Hero!"

"Oh, blast me with a laser…" sighed Damien.

"Hey, don't say that when it can be arranged," warned Skippy.

Lulu skipped to the very middle, but upon realizing that the dummy was destroyed, she asked if she could have a sparring partner. Link allowed it, and Lulu called upon Elysia.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Lulu…?" Marcus whispered quietly.

"Have some faith in Ellie," said Junichi, smiling to himself.

Lulu got into a fighting stance as Elysia stood straight as a stick, waiting for the rabbit to make the first move. Lulu eventually did, barrel rolling forward and aiming her leg at Elysia's stomach. Elysia easily side stepped out of the way, following up with a kick of her own. This pushed Lulu to the ground, but it was what Lulu had been waiting for. Now down low, she performed a sweep kick and took Elysia's legs right out from under her.

Elysia gasped and stumbled to the floor, rolling away as Lulu tried to strike with another kick. Looking determined, Elysia shuffled behind Lulu and struck with a punch, one that Lulu quickly returned. With Elysia stunned at Lulu's swiftness, Lulu grabbed Elysia's arm and proceeded to spin her, following this up by throwing her overhead. Elysia yelped unexpectedly as she careened through the air, but she flipped herself so she landed left foot first and sprung back, charging into Lulu and knocking her into the ground.

Lulu saw Elysia rush in to attack once more, so she kicked out her leg and stopped Elysia on the spot.

"Oomph!"

Lulu smirked, lifting her leg higher and kicking it out, taking Elysia up with it. Airborne again, Elysia murmured to herself, but she refused to get angry. When she landed again, she reached into her hidden back pocket and took out a paralyzing whip.

"Ace in the hole!"

"…when did she get that?" gawked Angelina.

"Is that legal?" Coby gasped.

"I…didn't exactly say she couldn't…" Link gulped, looking away nervously.

Lulu yelped as she spun away from the electric rope, Elysia lifting it over her head and spinning around with it. If it hadn't been so deadly, it would actually be pretty. Elysia then snapped it outwards, Lulu cartwheeling away and staying low. Elysia continued to whip it in Lulu's direction, Lulu dodging with several acrobatic moves. Eventually, she found a hole in Elysia's defenses and ran into it, grabbing the hand with the whip and holding it behind Elysia's back. Elysia looked astonished at first, but then smirked.

"Kay, you win. I think we've shown off enough!"

"I agree," chuckled Lulu, releasing Elysia from the hold. They then proceeded to bow, receiving applause afterward.

"Excellent, girls! See, even if you don't have any special abilities or a weapon, physical combat can be just as deadly as anything! A little old fashioned, but very practical! As we already know, Mario is a master at it!"

He then did a double take, grabbing Elysia's arm, pulling her before him, and removing the paralyzer whip from her grasp.

"Ahem, _what_ are you doing with your mother's whip?"

Elysia blanched and timidly poked her fingers together. "I just brought it with me in case of an emergency…"

"And a_ demonstration_ is an emergency?"

Elysia grinned broadly and shrugged her shoulders, Link sighing afterwards.

"How do you even know what Mom's paralyzer whip even looks like?"

"She's zapped me with it. On more than one occasion. What I want to know is how you managed to smuggle it away from her without her knowing!"

"Trade secret."

Link sighed, reluctantly handing back the whip. "Just be sure to give it back to her when you see her, all right?"

"Yes, yes…"

As soon as Elysia was back in line, Link faced Damien and gave him a nod.

"Now, class, we will witness a power-based fighting form. If you are lucky enough to possess any strange abilities, you should always put them to good use! The floor is yours, my son."

"Okay," Damien replied, standing perfectly still as another dummy was put into place. "First, I'll demonstrate my defensive technique. Anyone willing to shoot something at me?"

"_I'll_ do it!" Angelina offered instantly, waltzing up with her Fortune Bow and Palutena's Blade. "Pick your weapon! Both of them have got range!"

"Your Bow should work fine."

Angelina nodded, putting the blade away and taking aim with the pink bow. She gave Damien a signal, then launched several homing arrows in his direction. Damien was undeterred as they came whizzing at him- he simply crouched low and threw up his hand.

"Nayru's Love!"

A blue crystal appeared out of thin air and surrounded Damien, as if Nayru herself had glanced down upon him and protected him with her love. Angelina's well-aimed arrows crashed into the shield, glancing off and disappearing into thin air. Damien then dispatched the shield, receiving hand clapping afterward.

"Next, I will perform Farore's Wind- it's a move that can be used defensively or offensively, depending on the circumstance and how you use it. Angelina, you may step back now."

"Darn it, I wanted you to take an arrow to the knee," she grumbled, stepping next to Pink and Tenn nevertheless. Once she was out of the way, Damien approached the dummy and showed off the defensive side of Farore's Wind.

"I call upon…Farore's Wind!"

The group watched as he leapt into the air and spun around, a light breeze rushing in and enveloping him. He then disappeared, only to teleport behind the dummy and proceed to kick it in the head.

"Like that, it allows me to teleport, and proves as a counter attack method. Now, observe it offensively!"

Damien summoned Farore's Wind once again, this time holding his hand out and aiming at the dummy. A much more violent wind whipped about in the room, swirling around before blasting altogether at the dummy and sending it flying into the far wall. Damien stood straight and dusted himself off, taking in the impressed gasps of his peers.

"Finally, I have a move that is purely for offense…" he explained, a small fireball forming in his hand. He launched it at the dummy, lighting it in flames on the spot. "It's very dangerous if not controlled properly, and has the potential to destroy anyone within its radius…what you just saw was a condensed version of that power, that gets more powerful the farther it travels…"

"I recommend you all stand clear out of the way," Link advised under his breath, the other twelve students quickly scrambling to the wall. Link took a few steps back as well, watching as Damien crouched onto the ground once again.

"Din's…_FIRE_!"

He rose from the ground, his arms going up along with a huge dome of flames. The powerful fire swirled around, the dome growing in size and inching closer and closer to the edges of the room. Just when it was about to touch the class, Damien jumped out of the flames, waving his arms back and quelling the flames like a dying candle.

Purple managed a whistle and began to clap, the rest of the group following suit. Damien took a small bow as Link uttered, "His mother taught him well…"

"I suppose…" Zelda sighed in the background, wrenching with her hat once more. Damien would have liked to give her a few disapproving words, but he remembered what his mother told him- deep down, she looked up to him.

"As I'm sure you all can see," Link began, spreading his arms and speaking to the entirety of the class. "All three types of combat have their own pros and cons, but utilizing them all could be the key in a final boss battle one day! If you have no powers, it's good to train anyway in case you discover you DO have them. If you don't like weapons, it's good to train with them anyway just in case you have to use one. If you think you're weak physically, then increasing your arsenal of moves is good as well…which also will help if you are ever stripped of your weapon or your powers are inhibited!"

Link paused to take a breath as he caught Skippy, Starlos, and Tenn taking notes. He smiled to himself, then proceeded to snap his fingers.

"All right, our first unit will be on the physical side since everyone can do that, followed by weapons then powers, then we'll fuse all three together. As for the rest of the hour, you all can use whatever style you wish."

The class cheered excitedly and went at it with each other, all of them using styles that they never normally used. Tenn seemed extra into it, going all out and using all three styles just to get the hang of it. Damien, however, lingered by the wall, not looking particularly amused by anything. Link walked over and leaned on the wall next to him.

"You did great today, Damien," Link admitted, messing up his hair. Damien grimaced and fixed it back into place. "…hmm. What's up with you? You're more serious than usual."

"I don't know, Father…maybe this first day is just getting to me. I have to make sure I do everything right and please everybody…and I have to keep my friends in check."

Link laughed lightly, and Damien gave him an insatiable look.

"Son, this is a school. You're supposed to make mistakes. It's okay. You go to school so you can learn to _not_ make mistakes when it's really important! I made a huge mistake once, and it almost destroyed every single world in the universe! So stay in school."

Damien just sighed and joined his father in leaning on the wall. Link folded his arms and turned away from his son, watching the other children throwing punches and swinging weapons at each other.

"You're also a little stressed from being the leader of a group, aren't you?"

"…a little bit, actually," Damien confessed, blinking with surprise.

"I know how it is. I used to be the leader of my friends at first. They always turned to me for advice when things went horribly wrong, and sometimes I felt that the position just wasn't for me. Then I met Mario, and he sort of took over for me, and he was a natural at it!"

"Zelda says that Elysia should be the leader, but Elysia doesn't want to," Damien stated quietly, shuffling his feet.

"While Elysia does have the killer drive to lead a group, I don't know if she'd be able to keep a level head in dire situations like you. Sometimes that's all a leader needs to be- someone to reassure people. I couldn't do that all the time, but Mario…he always found a way."

He ruffled Damien's hair again, and this time the prince did not fix it.

"It may take a while to fully grow into the role, but you'll see. It's meant for you. After all, you'll be a great king of Hyrule one day! Leading is in your blood and destiny!"

Damien pondered this for a bit, finally smiling as he said, "Thanks, Dad."

"Anytime! But I do have one more question."

"Yes?"

"How can you _not_ like Honey Shrooms? ! I invented them myself!"

"Father, Uncle Mario has informed me that you most certainly did not invent that recipe."

**Fourth Period, Badness Basics-**

Penji's eyes could not have been wider or full of more embarrassment.

"…and this is a picture of Penji when he was only five! Wasn't he cute?"

"Of course, Mr. Dedede!" snickered Darcy, thoroughly enjoying Penji's mortification.

"That's _King_ Dedede to you!" commented the large bird-like king in red sitting at a desk, providing a much more entertaining slideshow than what Eggman had. "Ooh, and here's a picture of Penji just before he was potty trained! Ha ha ha, now _that_ was a dark time in history!"

The girls now had blackmail fodder for Penji's future years while the boys really wished they were somewhere else right now.

"_Pa_," Penji whined. "What does this have to do with basic badness? !"

"Simple, son," King Dedede began, shutting off the screen and receiving a combination of groans and cheers. "You see, basically being bad all stems from eliciting a negative response from your target. With embarrassing Penji, I have exposed a weakness and exploited it! I could launch an attack on him right now and be successful!"

"So…you're saying that being bad is based off of making people _feel_ bad?" Connor asked, a notebook in front of him and a number 2 pencil tapping against his cranium. King Dedede let out a gruff grunt, then proceeded to stand.

"Sometimes. Children, everyone has a different reason for being evil, but what I mean to say is that with every act of badness you commit, someone is going to get hurt in the process. This class will teach you about opportune moments to be devious, why people are evil in the first place, and it will squash that feeling of remorse you have that first time you whack a hero in the face with your hammer."

Dash let out a "Waaah…?", but King Dedede kept going.

"Bowser is evil because he has longing, I believe. Ever since he lost his wife, he's been kidnapping Princess Peach in pathetic attempts to get her to marry him, and for several decades, that has not worked out for him. Also along the way, the mere fact that Mario's been able to bounce around and get what he wants has fueled Bowser's anger and pushed his evil boundaries to the limit."

"Wow," Junior whistled. "This is the most informative class yet!"

"Tops Eggman's class," murmured Holle.

King Dedede walked over to Zeborah's desk and lightly tapped his palm on it. "Ganondorf is evil because he is the embodiment of the reincarnated hatred of a demon. He really has no choice in what he wants to do in his life, for he is constantly reborn, and always attempts the same thing in each life. Zeborah, you should be blessed that you're even here as we speak."

"Hey, in another hundred years, if I'm still alive, I'll be able to see my dad again," Zeborah said with a disinterested shrug. "I'm kinda glad my dad gets to live on, but it is a bit of a shame that he can't choose what he wants to do with his life…er, lives, I suppose."

King Dedede smiled a bit before trudging in front of Connor, still rigorously recording everything that came out of Dedede's mouth.

"Doctor Eggman, as we all know, has an impossible IQ number of 300-"

"Mine is 210," interrupted Connor as he scribed, feeling it necessary to point out.

"-and all he ever did was look up to his grandfather and wish to be a great scientist like him. Well, one day he shared his ideas with the world, and the world rejected him…and one day, it just went too far and he snapped, wishing revenge upon all those who had shunned him…which was pretty much everybody. But despite how much ridicule he received or how many times he was defeated by his nemesis, Eggman never gave up, and even he has some moral bounds lingering in him somewhere…"

"Kinda like you?" Holle asked, making an origami replica of the Three-Headed Hewdraw.

"Yes, what's _your_ story?" Darcy questioned as well, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow. "After all, we all know that you're secretly a big softy, and yet you insist on making people's lives worse. You monster!"

"It was pretty anti-climactic, actually," King Dedede replied slowly and cautiously, returning to his chair and lounging back in it. "Dreamland needed a leader, and as a person that really had nothing to live for, I decided it would give me calling in life. I overtook control of the land without so much as a flinch, and no one bothered to rise against me…yet when I devour their food supplies or demand things from them, they chastise me for being greedy and rude!"

His eyes narrowed, frowning at the very thought.

"They had their chance to chase me off or politely ask me to step down- I would've done it, but those spineless noodles hadn't lifted a finger. Their reactions only furthered fueled my desires to claim everything under my name…and to finally git dat dere Kirby!"

King Dedede then coughed and grabbed his throat, wondering where _that_ had come from. The class blinked stupidly in response.

"So, why _do_ you hate Kirby so much?" Penji asked quietly, playing around with his pencil.

"That, my dear child, you should already know," King Dedede grumbled impatiently, his hand curling into a tight fist. "But I suppose I should elaborate for the rest of the class. It might give them some insight."

"Seriously, I can't believe this class is actually interesting," Junior gaped with disbelief.

"Ganondorf's class still ranks as my favorite," scoffed Holle with a wicked sneer.

"Before I begin my explanation," King Dedede stated, waddling over to Holle and ceasing her sneer. "How about _you_ share with the class what you dislike about the troublesome person in your life?"

"I've already said I don't like Angelina because she's an airhead," Holle growled with one hand clutching the desk and the other coiled around her staff. "But…she's hardly done _anything_ since her ascent to Skyworld, and she's already in consideration for being in charge of Palutena's Army one day. Then there's me, having to judge people's souls and determining their afterlife while being in charge of a group of crackpot idiots…"

She frowned a bit, her face twisting up in disgruntled thought.

"What I do is actually really hard. I mean, sure I threaten to give you people a terrible eternity, but dooming people like that on a regular basis is a real downer. Truth be told, I've only given a small amount of people a happy afterlife…all it takes is one stroke of _pure_ evil to set you off."

"So, does that mean being evil is a bad thing?" Penji asked with worry.

"Oh no, whatever caused _that_ thought to cross your mind?" Dash commented with acidic sarcasm. Holle shook her head.

"Not quite. You can do bad things without being a completely evil person…in fact, all the villains Dedede's mentioned so far are only evil because they lack things they desire. I lack appreciation, and I'm jealous of Angelina for getting so much of it for _nothing_!"

King Dedede applauded lightly as Zeborah, Connor, and Penji realized that they really didn't have any foes- they were just bad because they weren't 'good' enough to be heroes.

"I don't even hold that much animosity for Queen Zelda's kids," Zeborah realized. "I'll only fight them if they try to get to my daddy while I'm still around."

"I really have no reason to be here," Connor thought intelligently. "I just know that fate will put me against someone like, say, Junichi, and my uncle will encourage it, and I'll do so only to appease him."

"Good to see you've got your character development planned out," snarked Dash. "You all know that all I wanted was to be a part of Team Star Fox, old or new, despite the bad blood between them and my grandfather…and they rejected me. It's only natural that I get my comeuppance."

"I just really don't like Marcus," Darcy said with a sickly sweet grin. "He's an overconfident blockhead."

"Oh, with the backstories!" Junior exasperated dramatically. "I'm inheriting a kingdom full of baddies, and…although I'm not sure what evil decrees I'll declare when I'm king…well, don't you guys think there could possibly be _too_ much good in the worlds, and people like us exist to make sure that it doesn't become thrown out of balance?"

"I hadn't thought about it that way," Holle pondered. "But regardless, I'd never expect something like that from you, Junior."

Junior shrugged. "I'm a very complex child."

"The worlds are colored in shades of gray," King Dedede commented, now leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "Once the black and white mix, they cannot be separated…"

"Yeesh, when did he get profound?" wondered Darcy.

"When did this class go from 'Badness Basics' to 'Evil Psychology'?" Zeborah inquired as well.

King Dedede ignored these comments and continued his lecture. "Another aspect of basically being bad is understanding that while your main purpose will most likely end up being to stand in heroes' way-"

"As I so intelligently pointed out," boasted Junior.

"-some of us aren't entirely bad guys. There's going to be times when you feel the need to do some good, and this class will help you keep your evil image without dipping into goody-two-shoes territory."

"That's all right, since some heroes aren't perfect," Connor nodded with understanding. "It's pretty much fair game when it comes to alliances."

"Very true," King Dedede commented. "A 'hero' and a 'villain' can be almost completely similar, with their intentions being the only thing that draws a line between the two. For instance, take Kirby and I. Both of us have had our fumbles and our heroic moments, but what puts Kirby on a pedestal is that he's cute and kind and always caring while I have an uncontrollable greed and rudeness simply because I never had much when I was young and I wasn't really raised right, I'll say."

"And because Kirby gets all the positive attention that you've always wanted and are unable to receive-" began Holle.

"It leads to me wanting to kill Kirby," Dedede finished brightly.

"That is _so_ not true," snorted Zeborah.

"Okay, maybe it's not. Maybe I really only go against Kirby to prove to the people that's he's not a shining ball of perfection. He's undid some of the good things I've done in the past, like seal up an evil monster to prevent it from eating people's dreams. I had to break a thing or two to do so, but then Kirby felt the need to undo my efforts…and THEN there was the time he thought I stole his cake, beat me up, and _then_ opened up a box containing the ultimate evil-"

"Ahem, rambling," coughed Dash, looking away afterwards. King Dedede collected his thoughts and nodded.

"Yes, yes, you're quite right. Anyway, students, our first unit in Badness Basics is the 'why' behind badness, then we'll move into things like shoving people into puddles, petty thievery, and jaywalking! Then we'll move up to carjacking, assault, vandalism…and we'll work our way up to universal domination. Should last the whole year."

"Well, at least we start small," chuckled Darcy. King Dedede prepared to say more, but his time was cut short by the decisive bell, ringing and signaling the students of Villain Prep to their next period. King Dedede sat silently in his desk as six of the students filed out, one being left behind and still at his desk. Dedede curiously raised an eyebrow.

"Whaddya still doing here, son?"

Penji was a little nervous, sitting silently for a few more precious moments.

"And how come you've been so quiet and shy? You're such a chatterbox at home."

"Well, it's today's lesson, it just has me thinking…" Penji pondered, conjuring up another ice cube and pushing it around his desk.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I…just wanna be like you, Pa…" Penji said with a quivering voice, once again wringing his mittens together. King Dedede was gob smacked for a moment, Penji staring up at him with his wide eyes. "I mean, you rule so strongly and don't take anything from anyone, but my friends have told me that I shouldn't be like that-I should rule nicely…but then I wouldn't belong in Villain's Prep, would I?"

King Dedede heaved a sigh, arose from his desk, and strolled over to his heir. He then smiled, patting him affectionately on the head.

"Listen here, son, 'cause I'm going to tell you something that won't quite apply to the other students," he began, the smile now becoming rather sad. "You don't have to be like me. If you choose to be an evil dictator, then great! But if you choose to turn over a leaf and rule with the kindness that Dreamland deserves, I'll be proud of you then, too."

"…okay," Penji replied quietly, nodding. "But, can I ask you something, Pa?"

"Of course."

"I know why you're greedy and sometimes rude, but…why do you rule the way you do? I'm sure the villagers would have been more appreciative towards you if you did something kingly, instead of robbing them of their food."

"I've wondered that as well," Kind Dedede pondered. "I never wanted to hurt anybody, but having a lot of power when you began with nothing can make a person go a little mad. Maybe I should be blessed that Kirby keeps me in check when I go a little screwy. You'll have Coby to deal with when you're older, but maybe you'll even end up being friends, who knows!"

"But, Pa…" Penji trailed, standing up and gathering his books. "I…don't think I belong in Villain Prep, and they'll never let me into Hero High, so-"

"Heh heh heh, there's nothing to worry about, kiddo!" King Dedede assured, folding his arms with a wide smirk. "After all, I'm pretty sure Egghead said that if you didn't want to be a villain in the end, you can do something else with your life, and (most of us) will give your our blessing. We may not have had the choice, but the whole purpose of both schools is to give the next generation one."

Penji smiled and nodded, bidding his father goodbye and rushing out the door to catch up with his peers. King Dedede smiled and returned to his desk, looking forward to a quick nap.

Right after a "brief" snack.

. . .

"Oh man you guys, that last class was _crazy_!" Junior exclaimed, shaking his head. "I think I'm going to faint!"

Both Connor and Zeborah raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

"I actually _learned_ something."

_CUE GASP!_

"Whaaaat?" Dash bellowed, appalled. "You learned something in _a school_?"

"Heaven forbid!" cried Holle.

"That just doesn't happen!" Darcy cried. Junior gave them all dubious looks as Penji scurried to catch up with them

"Guys, wait for me!" the little penguin cried, his books not really fitting under his arm. "Does…anyone know what we have fifth period?"

Darcy pulled out a schedule and grimaced.

"It says…'Anti-Anger Management', whatever the heck that means."

"Probably means it'll be about channeling our anger into misdeeds," suggested Connor.

"I can only imagine who the teacher is," Holle groaned. Dash peaked over Darcy's shoulder and blanched, his face turning whiter than his fur.

"You're not gonna believe this, Hel…"

Everyone else leaned in to read the name- and they went pale as well.


	6. We Stand Divided and Crazy

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 6: We Stand Divided and Crazy

**Before Fifth Hour-**

Back at Hero High, the thirteen students were a little confused at the next hour…or what should be said,_ hours._

"We…don't all have the same class?" Tenn asked, comparing her schedule to Starlos' once again.

"I guess not," Marcus stated. "Maybe this is where we truly begin to specialize!"

"But…the classes available for fifth hour vary greatly," Damien realized. "Where one hero could get strong in one area is where another becomes weaker! Shouldn't we all be learning equally?"

"Well, we have to face it- not all of us can do everything, so we have to get stronger where we're at our best," Angelina explained.

Zelda seemed visibly heartbroken as she turned to her brother. "I'm…I'm not with you, Damien…"

Damien raised an eyebrow. "It's just for an hour, and usually you'd be flipping with joy to get away from me."

Zelda scowled, frowning deeply. "Dude, that's totally true. But I don't want to experience all this new stuff without my older brother…sure, as the days go by I'll get used to it, but I like having you there to back me up in case I need it…"

"D'aw, that's gotta be the first time they haven't been at each other's throats!" Coby cried. "Take a picture folks."

"There's no time!" wailed Junichi, clinging to Elysia's neck. "I'm…I'm gonna be separated from Ellie!"

"It's okay, Juni," Elysia assured, not even having to touch the hedgehog as he held himself against her. "We're separated all the time when we're in our own worlds! Like Damien said, it'll only be an hour!"

"But…what if you get angry again…" Junichi whispered. Elysia gave him a serious look.

"I won't get mad again, I promise. It's really scary being like that when I can't control it…"

She undraped Junichi from her shoulders and comforted him as Starlos verbally announced that his next class was not going to be enjoyable. Purple was leaning against the lockers, watching as Pink shuffled through everyone's schedules and deciphered where everybody was supposed to go.

"We'll be late at this rate," Purple said coolly, eyes closed and trying not to be a pain in the butt. Nevertheless, Pink gave him a shushing sound and finally came to a conclusion.

"Okay, it looks like Marcus, Lulu, Skippy, and Elysia go to one class, Damien, Tenn, and Junichi go to another, and everyone else is piled into the third class," she announced, and everyone exchanged uncertain glances.

"Catch you later, guys," Elysia said, departing from her usual group and leaving with future Team Star Fox to go outside. Junichi, Zelda, and Coby waved wearily as Damien started stalking off.

"You guys act like we're never going to see each other again," grumbled the prince.

"Well, you never know," Zelda huffed, arms folded. Damien rolled his eyes and continued moving.

"You just behave yourself, Zelda. Let's go Junichi."

Junichi was at least glad that he had Damien, and someone as nice as Tenn. He waved to Zelda and Coby, left behind with the remainder of the group. Zelda sighed and led Coby away, with Starlos, Pink, Purple, and Angelina following quickly behind. None of them wanted to be late.

**Fifth Hour, Flight Training-**

Marcus, Lulu, Skippy, and Elysia were surprisingly pleased with their class. Having parents that thrived in space, it was important for them to be able to navigate through the universe as well.

Thus, there was no better person to teach them than Mr. McCloud.

"Dad!" Marcus cheered, running straight at the red fox, and hugging him until Marcus found himself on his father's shoulders. Fox McCloud chuckled, allowing his son to stay there for the time being.

"Hey, Mark. You're probably the _last_ person who needs this class, but there's nothing wrong with keeping your skills sharp."

"Hey, don't forget about Uncle Falco!" exclaimed a blue bird, approaching the group as an Assistant Teacher. Lulu and Skippy rushed toward him with glee, leaving Elysia awkwardly watching the reunion by herself. Once Fox set Marcus down and Lulu and Skippy had finished their greetings, they returned to Elysia's side.

"Okay," Fox began, clasping his hands together. "You've been extracted from the other students because you four are going to need the skills we're about to teach you in this class. Mr. Lombardi and I are going to instruct you in the way of space flight, having lived in a space environment for most of your lives. Think of it like getting a special Driver's License."

"Of course, most of your skills you'll get from _me_," Falco boasted. "Fox over here just gets lucky!"

Fox narrowed his eyes in an unappeased manner. "I am a great pilot, and _obviously_ it runs in the family, because my son Marcus has already graduated from the Cornerian Flight Academy at his age. I'm proud of him beyond belief, and he's really only here to assist the others if they need it!"

Marcus beamed unbelievably, Elysia hiding her look of disapproval.

"Aside from all the bragging, today we're going to put you behind the front wheel of an Arwing and let you go at it- except you, Marcus," Falco stated. "You get the Landmaster."

"Yes! Dad always looked better in a tank anyway!" cheered Marcus, pumping his fists into the air. Falco smirked.

"Yeah, that's what I said!"

"Uh, we're not going to have to take a premeditated test or pretesting to see if we can even handle being behind an Arwing?" Skippy asked. Fox thought this over, then shrugged.

"Well, we'll have to do that eventually. But I'd figured you kids would like it if you could actually get behind the wheel on the first day!"

Marcus, Lulu, and Skippy celebrated wildly- Elysia felt very out of place without her friends and surrounded by all these Star Fox people. However, just when she was at her most insecure, Fox walked over and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"You can be the first to take an Arwing, right after Marcus gets used to the Landmaster," he explained. "He's going to watch from the ground and keep tabs on everything."

Elysia thought this over for a bit, then smiled. "Okay, Mr. McCloud."

Fox winked. "You can call me Fox."

Elysia grinned and Lulu shook her head.

"Man, all the teachers are very touchy about using their last names…"

Fox shrugged. "I'm not touchy- I just like being called Fox! Mr. McCloud sounds _too_ professional."

"You sound just like Sonic," Marcus chuckled as he jogged toward the Landmaster. Falco was standing next to it and waiting for him, helping him into the vehicle and Elysia, Lulu, and Skippy felt a sense of anticipation course through their bodies. Once Marcus was settled, he was eager to get going.

"It drives just like an Arwing, Mark," Fox explained, having full confidence in his offspring. "It can hover, go over all terrain, drop bombs, fire lasers, and do a barrel roll. It shouldn't be too much different- just remember that you're on the ground!"

"Roger, Dad!"

"Oh man, this is the coolest class ever!" squealed Skippy, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Finally- a class that actually applies with what you want to do in life!" exclaimed Lulu.

"Yeah," Elysia chuckled, hands on her hips. "That automatically makes this school better than most!"

The three of them watched as Marcus rode the Landmaster around the backyard of the school, his cheers highly audible and cruising over the hills designed to test out the Landmaster specifically. He utilized the hover function, launched lasers at a few targets, blew up a bush, and barrel rolled seven times.

"Pappy Peppy would be proud," Lulu said with a smirk.

They watched for a few more minutes as Marcus drove around and enjoyed himself, Falco radioing him and saying that the first Arwing was about to go up. Elysia knew that meant her, and she suddenly tensed up. Skippy noticed her apprehension and approached her side.

"Hey, it'll be all right!" Skippy assured. "My dad wasn't the best pilot, but he was still pretty good!"

"Heh, I'm not worried about being bad," Elysia laughed nervously. "I'm just…nervous. After all, the only spacecraft I've been in was my mother's, and it certainly wasn't a state of the art Arwing!"

"There's nothing to worry about," Lulu comforted, placing her hands on Elysia's shoulders. "Fox and Falco won't let anything bad happen to you, Marcus is on point, and Skippy and I are here too!"

Elysia finally took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, I'm ready then. I guess I'll need to know this for the future, so what better day to begin than today?"

"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Fox, leading Elysia to one of six parked Arwings. Two of them belonged to Fox and Falco, while the other four were for training. Fox took Elysia to one of the ones for training, strapped her in, and informed her of all the controls.

"Now, Marcus is going to do things from below," Fox began to explain, strapping himself in the seat behind her. "All you have to do is copy his actions one time each, and then you'll be done for the day."

"I can't do a somersault, Dad!" Marcus called on the communications, sounding panicked. Fox put a hand to his forehead.

"Mark, I told you that you have to remember you're on the ground."

"…oh yeah."

"I'm doomed," Elysia moaned. Fox gave her a thumbs up from the back seat.

"You'll do fine, Elysia. I trust you with this Arwing; you just gotta trust me when I tell you it'll be okay, a'ight?"

"…All right."

Rearranging her grip on the steering, Fox told her how to lift off and she performed the actions on command. Lulu, Skippy, and Falco watched patiently as Elysia suddenly found herself flying the most complex aircraft in existence around a school.

"All right, good," Fox praised. "Now, just follow Marcus. That's all you've gotta do!"

"You make that sound really easy," Elysia grumbled. Fox smirked.

"Because it totally is."

Marcus simply drove straight forward, Elysia following him from overhead. Marcus then saw a few targets passing him by, so he aimed his blasters in their direction and fired. Fox nodded to Elysia, who pressed the buttons on the steering and fired as well. She missed the targets the first few times, but eventually she hit one and started grinning.

"Hey, I did it!" she said with surprise.

"Just gotta work on your aim a little!" Marcus called up.

"Oh, cut me some slack. It's my first time."

Elysia continued to follow Marcus, who launched a bomb at a small pit located off to the right. He detonated it personally, the small blast contained in the ditch. Elysia veered to the right, waiting until she was directly above the hole and dropped a bomb as well. As soon as it hit the ground, it exploded, and Elysia was once again happy that she had hit the mark.

"Woo hoo!" Elysia cheered, tipping the Arwing upwards and looping it into a somersault. Fox lightly applauded as Marcus mentioned that he was insanely jealous.

"All right, Miss Instant Classic," Marcus' voice rang out over the intercom once again. "Let's see you try _this_ on for size!"

Elysia glanced down at the Landmaster as Marcus rolled five times to the left, then five times to the right. Once he was upright again, he smirked in the cockpit.

"You gotta do it quickly, otherwise if there's enemy fire comin' at ya, it will most likely hit you!"

"Not necessarily," Fox pointed out. "Barrel rolls deflect enemy fire!"

"Whatever! Just do a barrel roll!"

Elysia nodded, gripped the steering, and jerked it to the left. The Arwing barrel rolled several times to the left, almost looking like it was spiraling sideways in the air. Then, Elysia jerked the other way, causing it to barrel roll in reverse. Fox had his arms thrown up in the air while cheering. Elysia finally came to a stop, descending the Arwing until it was gliding just above the Landmaster. Elysia smirked at Marcus through the window, then landed in the middle of the yard. It was a bit of a rough and abrupt landing, considering Fox ended up falling forward in his seat, but as much as Elysia hurried to apologize, Fox just laughed.

"Heh, that was pretty impressive for a first run," Fox admitted, unstrapping himself. "I don't think even Falco's first run ran that smoothly!"

"_Not entirely true_, but I suppose you're right," grumbled Falco, walking up with an excited Skippy and Lulu. Elysia blinked her blue eyes and turned back to Fox.

"You really think I did well?" she asked, surprised. Fox nodded.

"Definitely. I can see it won't take long for you to get the hang of flying!"

"Fox is usually right when it comes to these things," Falco added with his arms folded. "He's not _entirely_ useless."

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Skippy, once again bouncing excitedly. "I hope I do that well!"

"Where'd you get those skills?" Lulu asked with interest. Elysia simply shrugged.

"From watching my mom, I suppose…"

"Well, either way, that was great," Fox stated, giving her another thumbs up. "You've really set the bar for this class!"

Elysia smiled a bit, then hung her head. Fox raised an eyebrow curiously as Falco asked, "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing, nothing…" Elysia mumbled, shaking her head. "It's just…my mom never praises me as much as you guys have. It's kinda weird suddenly getting this much attention."

"Well, in my opinion (and don't tell her I said this because I'll be losing my ears)," Fox began, smiling. "Your mother doesn't really know how lucky she has it, having a daughter like you. I can't even imagine not being proud of my son…he accomplished so much, and he's a great kid…"

"Someone talking about me?" Marcus called, pulling up in the Landmaster and poking his head out. He sprung out and ran to his dad again, who once again scooped him up and held him in the air. Elysia smiled again and jumped down to join Lulu and Skippy, talking about her experience.

"It's really not that bad!" she explained, holding her hands out. "You just sort of know what to do at the right times, I believe."

"Well, I'm going next!" Skippy exclaimed, starting to run around with his arms spread wide. "I'll fly just like this! Neeooow!"

"Me too!" cried Lulu, doing the same as Skippy. Elysia let out a genuine laugh and started pretending to pilot an Arwing as well, the three of them flying circles around Falco.

"I wanna join too!" Marcus decided, his father releasing him and allowing him to fly around with his friends.

All four children decided that they were going to really like this class. Falco decided that this was going to be quite a handful.

**Fifth Period, "Anti-Anger Management"-**

The seven students of Villain Prep were almost as scared as they had been when they discovered who their principal was. Not quite on the same level, but pretty darn close. Even Connor reluctantly took a seat in the front, the teacher sprawling forward and screeching in his face.

"Good lord, who thought _Ridley_ as a teacher was a good idea?" Holle sneered in the very back, thinking about either whacking him or sniping him with her staff.

The dragon-like alien was chained to the floor by his neck, head craned upwards to let out inhumane shrieks as he tried futilely to convey something to the students. His wings took up three-fourths of the wall behind him, and every once in a while his claws would scrape against the chalkboard. Everyone cringed and screamed at the display, Holle once again asking whose bright idea that was.

"It was MINE!" bellowed Tabuu, teleporting into the room and really setting the children's fears on edge. "I told you, we had a low budget! It was either Ridley or Medusa, but after seeing Medusa's lunch special it would be a little disappointing to see her _teach_."

"I will agree, lunch was atrocious," Dash commented. "But is it _really_ wise to have a teacher that is so dangerous he is chained to the floor? !"

"Ridley is actually _very_ smart and calculating, and along with his bloodthirsty tendencies, he makes for a great villain!" Tabuu boomed. "He makes for a perfect evil role model, and he'll have lots to teach you!"

"I find the name of this class ironic then," stated Connor.

"Yeah, how are we supposed to learn from a thing that can't speak? !" questioned Zeborah.

"Seriously, I could bring people back to life- people like Andross, Hades, Nightmare, Shadow Queen, _Giygas_," Holle offered. "Just name it, I'll do it. As long as I don't have to sit in a room with that abomination."

"I dunno, Giygas is a bit of a stretch," Penji quivered.

"NO! Sit here and soak up the wisdom or I'll take over your minds and suck out your moralities with a straw!" bellowed the principal, slinking out of the room to return to the principal's office.

"...Ooh, I don't think I'll make it through this period…" trailed Penji, head down and quaking like a leaf.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Junior asked as he drummed his fingers on the desk. "This is a total step backward from Dedede's class."

"Maybe we can cut and run," suggested Darcy. "Ridley can't chase us, since he IS chained to the floor…"

"Hold on, you guys…" Connor trailed, scribbling some blueprints in his notebook. "I think I have an idea."

Zeborah and Junior, interested, stood up and hovered over Connor's desk, watching as the ideas for an invention took place.

"What's that?" Zeborah asked, not really knowing much about technology.

"It's _going_ to be a English From Alien Interpreter Device, or EFAID for short. I'll whip it up and attach it to Ridley and maybe we can understand him."

"How do you plan on building that so quickly?" questioned Junior skeptically. Connor gave him a look.

"Have you _seen_ my uncle fix appliances? He can repair seventy-six refrigerators, stoves, sinks, dishwashers and all the like within a minute. This will be like fixing a toy for me. Now I just need some parts…"

Connor listed off what he needed, and the class scattered about with teamwork. Penji knocked down a metal cabinet and began battering it to pieces with his mallet, Darcy used her laser rifle to blast the pieces into shape, Junior used his flames to wield them together, Dash (being a genius himself) disassembled the only computer in the room and removed the wires that Connor was going to need, and Zeborah was constantly giving Connor a pep talk.

"_Zeborah_," Connor huffed, at his wit's end. He didn't even look up at her as he wrenched a bolt in place. "You could help me _more_ by slicing the PA system from the wall and extracting a piece of the actual intercom from it. That way, Ridley's sounds will be able to be transferred into something we can understand."

"You mean this whole project rests on me?" Zeborah asked hopefully.

"Sure."

"YES!" she cheered, whipping out both her swords, spiraling through her working peers, and heading to the far wall. The PA system was seldom used, especially in Ridley's class, so Zeborah figured it wouldn't be missed. Crouching down, Zeborah propelled herself upward, disconnecting the PA system from the wall in one slice. As soon as it hit the floor, Zeborah used a second slice to cut it open, and then pulled out the intercom. Grinning, she skipped back to Connor's awaiting hand, which placed the part into position. Huffing, Connor wiped some sweat off his forehead with his jacket sleeve.

"All right, it's complete…" Connor trailed. "However, it needs a power source. Any ideas?"

"How about you use 'MR Z' to transform some random object into a power source you can use?" suggested Holle, being the only one to not have moved from her seat.

"That's…a really good idea," Connor realized, pulling out his MR Z and now pondering what to zap it with. Holle reached into her pocket and produced a pencil, tossing it into the air. Connor quickly turned around and zapped it, turning it into a brightly glowing red Chaos Drive. He reached out and caught it stylishly, smirked and snapping it in place. The EFAID began to glow and lightly vibrated with life, and now there was only one thing left to do.

"I'll have to attach this to Ridley," Connor said aloud, and Zeborah cringed.

"Dude, you'll be a chicken nugget for him if you get close."

"Well…anyone else want to do it?"

The class was silent for a bit until Dash surprisingly raised his hand.

"I'll give it a shot."

Connor nodded respectfully as he handed the EFAID to Dash, with the rest of the class giving him concerned looks for good luck. Dash then approached the still raging Ridley, deciding where to go with this. Ridley's head attempted to lean down and snap at Dash, but luckily Dash was out of reach.

But not for long.

Dash agilely sprang onto the desk, jumping up in the nick of time just as Ridley crashed down for another bite. Dash landed on the creature's head, sliding down onto his back and wrapping his arms around the neck. He strapped the EFAID to Ridley and quickly careened off the monster as it began to shout in (almost) complete sentences.

"-KILL YOU ALL! KILL YOU ALL! KILL YOU- wah?" Ridley bellowed, stopping when he realized he could understand himself. "What the…"

He then blinked, watching as the seven children blinked back at him with anticipated looks. Ridley coughed, then began to grin devilishly and poke his claws together.

"Well…isn't this a _pleasant _little turn of events," he said malevolently, his simpering only growing bigger. "Good afternoon, class. Sorry about that delay, but I'm sure what you'll learn in here will only prove to be very, very bad…"

And he began to cackle, and suddenly Holle preferred the screeching and claw scraping.

**Fifth Hour, Psychics-**

"…So, instead of Physics, so to speak, you three get _Psychics_!" exclaimed the teacher of the second fifth hour class. Damien and Junichi were a little confused as Tenn looked on with complete interest.

"I have a new favorite class," she sighed happily, twirling her finger around her bandana. The teacher laughed and hovered himself onto the desk so he was sitting on it. Damien notably grimaced.

"I had a feeling you'd say that, Tenn," the teacher chuckled, removing his blue-brimmed red cap and fanning himself with it. Damien raised his hand as confusion stayed put on Junichi's face. The teacher called upon Damien, and Damien coughed to prepare himself.

"Yes, um, Mr. Ness-"

"Please don't call me that," Ness said while sticking his tongue out. Despite being a young adult by now, he still had a childish charm about him and still wore an outfit similar to what he wore when he was young.

"Yes, whatever…can you please explain the point of this class? I understand that you're psychic and that this can benefit Tenn, but how do Junichi and I fit into this?"

"Well," Ness pondered, sparkles dancing around his fingers. "This is more about teaching you how to become one with your powers, to learn about having new ones, and honing them so that you have full control. You don't have to be psychic to have powers, and you're a prime example of that, Damien."

"Wait, isn't Marcus psychic too?" Tenn asked, to which Damien nodded.

"Yes, he inherited his abilities from his mother. This does propose the question as to why he is not here."

"All Marcus has is telepathy and a light ability for telekinesis, which he has already mastered," Ness explained. "That's why he was placed into Flight Training instead, to become more attuned with flying in a group, which he will have to do one day when he's leader of Star Fox."

"Ah, that makes sense," Tenn stated, nodding.

"What doesn't make sense is why_ I'm_ here," squeaked Junichi. "There's nothing special about me, and I don't have any powers…"

"Erm, yes, about that…" Ness coughed, unsure about where to go with this. "Um…your mother informed me that it is indeed_ possible_ that you have powers."

"How…how does _she_ know that?" Junichi asked, sounding panicked.

"Sonic, Shadow, and Silver have all confirmed that they can sense Chaos Energy within you, but they've never told you about it because they didn't want to you to panic."

"Of_ course_ I'm going to panic!" yelled Junichi, throwing his arms in the air. "I'll become a Shadow-clone or something! Or worse…a Mary Sue!"

"You're overreacting a little," Tenn interrupted, shaking her head.

"You can't be a Mary Sue- you're too…soft," Damien pointed out. "Besides, being called a Mary Sue is an insult!"

"And, since you're a guy, it be a Gary Stu," Tenn added with a chuckle. Junichi looked faint.

"Calm down, Junichi," Ness said, leaping off the desk and holding out his hands. "They told me that there's not much Chaos Energy there, so your powers can't be_ that_ extreme. Plus, it's not like the Triple S are the only people in your world that are capable of using Chaos Powers…"

"True, true…" Junichi trailed, twiddling his thumbs now and trying to calm down. "Do they have any idea of what I can do? If I've got the ability, I guess I'd like to know about it…"

"Yeah, especially since Damien and I have already exhausted our abilities today," Tenn pointed out. "I mean, we've both demonstrated and we were captains in third hour today…I think we've had enough spotlight."

"Yes, well, you two can still help," Ness pointed out as he closed his eyes and spread out his arms. The desks in the room began to glow and parted to the edges of the room, like how Poseidon parted the ocean so Pit could reach Thanatos' underwater lair. "Let's see if we can get Junichi's powers to manifest. That way, when we _really_ begin our Psychics studies, we'll all be on the same page!"

"That's an excellent idea," agreed Damien, with Tenn nodding and grinning as well.

"Just tell me what you want me to do!" she exclaimed, throwing up a PSI Shield and winking. "I'm totally willing to do anything!"

"Just like your parents," laughed Ness, removing her shield. Tenn was shocked for a bit but then paid attention as Ness put them all into place. Junichi stood in the middle of the room, his knees rattling with anxiousness.

"What are you going to do?" Junichi asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Ness explained, shrugging. "But, my powers came to me in a time of need, so maybe it'll be the same for you! Now, let's start with something basic- try out Chaos Control. It's a very common ability, and I'd be surprised if you didn't have it."

Junichi nodded, then took a bold stance. "Chaos Control!"

The class waited. Nothing happened.

"Maybe I don't have it!" Junichi exclaimed, almost sounding pleased.

"Perhaps you do," Damien began to point out. "After all, Shadow is able to utilize the Chaos Control without a Chaos Emerald because he is almost nothing but Chaos Energy, but Sonic, on the other hand, has to have at least one Chaos Emerald on hand to activate Chaos Control."

"Yeah…maybe you just need a Chaos Emerald!" Tenn cried. "Too bad we don't have one."

"What if I need a Chaos Emerald to activate all my abilities, if I really do have some?" Junichi asked.

"Then we'd have a problem," Ness commented. He turned away from Junichi, pondering a bit.

Then, without warning, he whirled around, stopped on both feet, held two fingers to his head and shouted, "PK Thunder!"

A purple ball of electricity materialized out of thin air, Ness mentally guiding it toward Junichi at an alarming pace. Damien and Tenn gasped, but then they suddenly noticed Junichi's gray eyes turn electric blue. They simply gawked as Junichi unexpectedly emitted a blue pulse away from him, eventually turning into a single beam that pierced right through the PK Thunder and struck Ness.

"Yipes!" yelped the psychic, spinning around and tumbling to the ground. Tenn had a blank look on her face as she assisted him.

"Not that he didn't deserve that, since he sprang a sneak attack," she grumbled, noticing Ness' eyes rolling around. "Hey…Junichi, I think you confused him."

"It appears to be super effective," Damien said with dry humor, Tenn sighing in reply. They both then turned to Junichi, whose eyes were still bright blue and was releasing another blue pulse. Damien cast Nayru's Love and Tenn conjured up a PSI Shield, Chaos Strike doing nothing to harm them.

"How do we get him to snap out of it?" Tenn asked, but Damien was already whispering "Farore's Wind" under his breath. A mighty gust came out of nowhere and barreled into Junichi, knocking him into the wall and also restoring him back to normal.

"Ow, what the heck…?" Junichi mumbled, grabbing his head as he slid to the floor. Damien walked over to him as Tenn continued to get Ness to come to.

"Are you okay, Junichi? That came out of nowhere, although it _was_ pretty predictable," Damien said. Junichi nodded, removing his hand from his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It felt like I had no control over my actions though- it was like I was put on autopilot with that Chaos Strike…"

"Ugh, I should've used Paralysis," mumbled Ness, returned to his feet as he was being helped by Tenn. "Heh, at least I knew that if you felt threatened that your powers would activate."

"But…he's threatened by a _lot_ of things!" cried Tenn. "How come his powers haven't awakened before?"

"Because there's someone always defending him, therefore there's never a need for him to act in his own defense," Damien explained like it was obvious. "His mother is very protective of him, and take this morning, for example- both times Junichi was being bullied by Purple, Elysia was there to fight his battles."

"So…you mean I haven't actually been able to use my abilities because I'm a wimp?" whimpered Junichi, starting to shake again.

"No, I didn't say that, I just meant-"

"He means that you only use your abilities in dire situations, as I have predicted," Ness claimed. "You've been so sheltered that your abilities never had a chance to manifest."

"Ooh, that's kind of awesome!" cheered Tenn, hugging Junichi. "It's like you gotta grow up in order to be rewarded with kickin' abilities! Sweet!"

"Tenn, let him go. He's still sensitive," Damien ordered, and Junichi was released onto the ground with his knees hugged to his chest.

"I never realized…I was so protected…" Junichi trailed, shaking his head. "It's all really obvious now, though…I guess I never really fought for myself…and if I can't do that, then how am I supposed to fight for_ other_ people?"

"Aw, it's okay, Junichi!" Tenn exclaimed, sitting herself on the ground next to him. "That's what this school is for, remember. Whipping heroes into, well, hero shape!"

"She's right," Ness said, holding out a hand to the disappointed purple hedgehog. "Part of being a hero is accepting yourself for who you are. When I was called upon to save the earth, I accepted that I was the only one who could do so, and did everything in my power to contribute to keeping everything I loved safe."

Junichi sniffled a little and finally smiled, taking Ness' hand and accepting his help. Now back on his feet, Junichi was feeling a little more confident.

"Okay…let's see what else I can do. Throw everything you've got at me, and no one defend me," he ordered, his smile growing into a smirk.

Tenn and Damien grinned at each other and took fighting stances. Tenn launched a PK Freeze, Junichi's eyes turning yellow as the air around Tenn began to grow cold. It eventually froze into a binding ring, keeping her from making any other attacks. Damien struck after that, calling up Farore's Wind again now that Junichi would be able to defend against it. His eyes went from yellow to green, Junichi lifting up his hands and snapping his fingers. A magic rift appeared between Junichi and Damien, sucking up Farore's Wind before propelling it towards Damien. Damien was knocked back, tumbling to the ground in surprise.

"Wow, not bad," Tenn admitted, struggling to break free of the Chaos Bind. "But you're not the only Hot Shot! PK Fire!"

Tenn melted the bind as Ness made a comment about "cheesy heroic banter". Tenn danced around, firing flames all around Junichi and wondering what attack he would use next. She got her answer when Junichi's eyes faded to indigo, the hedgehog springing up into the air and punching the ground with a chaos-powered fist. An impacting shockwave ricocheted away from the strike, dispelling all of the fire and knocking Tenn off balance. Junichi then returned to his feet with orange eyes, a small ball of energy forming between his palms. He launched it at Tenn, knocking her to the ground without so much as a blink.

"Don't lose control, now, Junichi," Damien warned, causing a fire to rise around the hedgehog. Junichi acted as if he hadn't heard him, his eyes darkening to be as purple as his fur. A purple aura formed around his hands as he whispered,

"Chaos _Nightmare_."

Right before Junichi could use the power to blast Damien through the ceiling, Ness leapt in front of him, threw up a PSI Shield, and chanted the spell for PSI Paralysis. Junichi's eyes dulled back to gray as he suddenly found himself immobile. Ness panted a bit before standing straight.

"Yikes. Maybe it's not good to overload him with his powers…he's got a lot to learn," Ness realized.

"I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my time in helping him accomplish that," Damien offered, a hand emerging from his cape.

"After all, Damien and I have our abilities down," Tenn added, until she started blushing. "Well, I still can't perform Starstorm, but…"

"Yes, let's keep training!" Junichi cried, once the paralysis wore off. "I want to get better so I can show Ellie that I'm not totally useless!"

"All right, but try to only use one at a time, and don't swap so fast. It looks like if you overload yourself, you lose control," Ness instructed, and Junichi nodded, watching as Tenn and Damien prepared themselves again.

Junichi's eyes were a spinning roulette of colors, and he himself was just happy that he had finally found something special about him.

**Back at Fifth Period at Villain Prep-**

"Free me, you uncouth wastes of matter!" Ridley roared, still struggling against the chain that kept him bound to one spot.

"Um, no," Holle scoffed. "You eat people, you're bloodthirsty, evil and calculating, and you have a sick sense of humor, and you're the second most bloody scary thing I've seen today alone, along with in my entire life."

"Fine," Ridley snapped, ceasing to struggle and proceeding to glare at the students through beady eyes. "I can still get my point across without having to lift a finger. Does anyone have any questions before I destroy your self-confidence bit by bit?"

"Yes, actually…"Connor coughed, hands behind his head. "Why is this class called 'Anti-Anger Management'?"

"Because, where most people are told to control their anger and prevent it from getting out of hand, here you're told to unleash it into a physical form, wreaking frustration on your enemies and using it to cause massive destruction! It's the brutal side of being evil…a side in which I am _very_ adept."

"I'm scared," Penji whispered, gripping the edges of his hat with an iron grasp.

"There's no need to be scared in this class," Ridley said with a grin that showed off rows of razor sharp teeth. "After all, I'm funny. See, here's a joke. How many people die when I attack a planet?"

Silence.

"All of them! Bwa ha ha ha ha!"

Silence.

"Well, I thought it was funny."

"Yes, and that's just more souls _I_ get to sort out," growled Holle. "I've got a joke for you. What's big, ugly, and has a bent face?"

Silence.

"You, the moment I bash your beak-thing in with my staff. Now _that's_ comedy!"

"Oh, shut up," Ridley hissed, stretching out his wings before folding them against his body. "If I wasn't chained to the floor, you'd all be corpses right now- hollow, lifeless husks! And when I plan to have a meal, there are no leftovers…"

"Except Samus," Darcy dared to say.

"Plus she keeps killing you- don't you get tired of being reanimated?" asked Zeborah.

"You try to kill her, and she ends up turning the tables with Power Bombs, yo!" cried Dash.

Ridley screeched, and not even the translator could pick up on what it was supposed to mean. He fought against the chain once again, but once again, it didn't budge.

"Enjoy your last few minutes of life, saplings!" Ridley cried. "The second I get out of here, I'll tear you limb from limb, use your spines as toothpicks, grind up your eyeballs to make jelly for my toast, use your arms and legs to build a fence-"

"Dude, this is teaching us nothing but how much of a freak you are!" Junior cried.

"In that case, here's another joke. What's dead, in a pile, and smells of defeat?"

"You, the very second after you cross paths with Samus?" guessed Holle, just to spite him.

"No, you seven, once I get my hands on you and strangle the life outta-"

The bell rang, and everyone except Holle was out in record time. Ridley blinked and complained that all his time was wasted screeching as Holle sashayed in front of him.

"What's stupid, incompetent, and trapped to a floor in a classroom with superior students?"

She didn't bother to wait for his reply.

"You, and you're going to be stuck with that title for an entire school year, buddy."

She cackled on the way out, Ridley left swearing up a storm of revenge.

**Fifth Hour, Study Hall-**

"Okay, so since we're not 'specialized' enough, we get stuck in a study hall?" complained Starlos in disbelief.

His uncle Starfy nodded. Starlos planted his face on the desk.

Scrawled on the chalkboard in pathetic white letters was indeed the words 'Study Hall', but the last thing Starlos, Angelina, Pink, Purple, Zelda, and Coby wanted to do was study.

"Sorry," exclaimed assistant teacher Moe, Starfy's best friend. "You guys are here because you don't need flight training or Psychics. Next hour, you'll get your specialized classes, and other people will end up in Study Hall."

"They seriously couldn't have come up with another course to teach?" complained Zelda, bored out of her mind. "They really had to put in a study hall?"

"I can't believe everyone else is having fun and _doing_ things," complained Angelina, with Pink sitting behind her and putting a braid in her hair. "This is absolutely _not_ heroic."

"You're telling me!" cried Moe as Starfy continued doodling pictures on the chalkboard. "I was all looking forward to passing on words of wisdom to a new group of heroes…and I get saddled with study hall. I'm in as much pain as you lot."

"Oh, you're all being complete sticks in the mud," commented Purple, feet on the desk and leaned back in his seat. "This is a chance to really soak up what we've learned!"

"Well, we've learned you're obnoxious," Coby said dejectedly, leaning on his desk and covering his face with his mask.

"He's better now," Pink assured, unintentionally tugging harder at Angelina's hair. The angel yelped as Pink hurriedly apologized.

"Oh, really? Because I thought he was totally being sarcastic," said Zelda.

"Seriously. Not cool," puffed Coby.

"But if we really have to recap…" Starlos trailed, ignoring his uncle's childish drawings and writing on the blackboard as well. "We learned Heroic Basics first hour, then we learned how to use history to unlock the secrets of the future, then we played a game that showed us how important teamwork is, lunch (which was the _most_ important), then we learned how to utilize all three forms of fighting despite our advantages, and now we're learning a whole lot by sitting in a room and watching a star draw cutesy pictures on a chalkboard."

Starfy finished his picture of toast, turned to the class, and laughed and blushed.

"Some of us are learning how to pilot, and others are taking Psychics…which is a terrible play on words, I must say," Angelina mumbled.

"What are our last two hours?" Pink asked. "I know that Red is teaching the last one, and Miss Aran must have one of the next classes…"

"Well, like I said, you'll be divided again," Moe explained. "One class with have Miss Aran for Specialized Training overall, and others will end up in Weapons Training."

"Yes, finally! A focus on weapons!" cheered Zelda and Angelina, slapping each other a high five.

"None of us have Study Hall twice, do we?" asked Coby wearily. Starfy shook his head, now drawing a fish.

"No, I don't believe so," Moe replied, looking thoughtful.

"But what does _Red_ teach?" Purple asked, practically pleading. Moe's eyes darted around nervously before he rapidly shook his head.

"Sorry, kiddo. He doesn't want anyone to know beforehand."

"Sounds like Red," sighed Pink, letting go of Angelina's hair and proceeding to juggle her Pokeballs. One of them fell out of form and hit the ground, releasing Mime Jr from its ball. Pink stopped juggling instantly as Mime Jr jumped into her lap. She petted him softly, as the rest of the class was just dying to get out of there.

"Ugh, this school has officially disappointed me," sighed Angelina, aiming Palutena's Blade at the wall and debating on whether or not to fire a ranged shot. "The first bad class, and I've been rejected by a semi-good looking boy. High school is RUINED FOREVER!"

"Um, no not really," interrupted Purple, shaking his head. "I'm _always_ available!"

Pink grimaced as Angelina scoffed, "Um, yeah right."

"I'm kidding!" Purple exasperated. "Anyway, school's not just about petty romance. It's a place for education! And since we're heroes, these classes actually hold purpose."

"Besides," Pink suddenly said deviously, Mime Jr. in her arms. "You've got a crush on a guy back home anyway, don't you?"

Angelina's face turned as pink as her spandex and the curls in her hair bounced wildly. "Don't bring him up! He's the reason why I'm looking for a new boyfriend!"

Pink leaned toward Purple and whispered, "It's a lie. She's so not over him."

Angelina scowled, her face going from dark pink to red. The Pokemon Trainers snickered to each other as the angel's wings folded against her back.

The sound of a bell would sound so soothing right about then.

Unfortunately, it didn't ring, and Coby was starting to get rambunctious. He was prepared to start running laps around the room just for something to do, until he noticed that Zelda was sitting gruffly in her seat, her arms folded and intensely staring at nothing in particular. Instantly, he jumped out of his seat and plunked himself down onto Zelda's table, snapping her out of her gaze. He gave her a huge grin, but Zelda didn't smile back.

"What's the matter, Zel? You never sit still like this…if anything, you should be accompanying me in seeing if we can escape out the window."

"Sorry Coby, I'm just not feeling it…" Zelda sighed afterward, her stiff sitting position slumping considerably. Coby started poking her shoulder with his stubby hand.

"Well why not? Come on! You know you can tell me anything!"

"Well it's nothing that I haven't mentioned to you before," she sighed, and Coby frowned upon realization.

"Thinking about your mom again?"

"What else?" Zelda huffed and tossed a stray stand of hair over shoulder. "How come Damien can talk to her so easily? Every time I try, I always end up making things worse…and now I'm afraid to try!"

"You know she's always there for you, though," Coby pointed out. "You could be me, cuz when I'm not training, Kirby's either napping or exploring other worlds, and Meta Knight's not the easiest person to hang out with."

"But she's supposed to be my go-to person, cuz Daddy has no idea how little girls are supposed to work," Zelda replied with her tongue stuck out. "Mom _has_ to be disappointed with me…because after all, I never apologized for yelling at her when she was just trying to help me, and that was_ years_ ago…"

"In my opinion, if I am allowed to interrupt," Pink suddenly spoke up, and Coby and Zelda turned to face her. "Just tell Queen Zelda how you're feeling. Hold nothing back, let it all out, and I'm sure she'll understand. After all, Queen Zelda is known for _being_ understanding."

"Nah, I say bottle it up inside until it drives you to a life of cruelty," Purple butted in. "Then you'll get sent to a counselor and have your problems solved for you!"

"That's a terrible idea!" shrieked Angelina, bopping him on the head. Purple winced and glared back.

"I'm kidding! Man, can no one sense sarcasm and a sense of humor anymore?"

"I'm with Pink, Zelda- the sooner you clear things up, the easier things will be," stated Starlos with a shrug. "It's that simple."

"It is _not_ that simple," Angelina protested. "A girl's feelings are very delicate, and sometimes came be hard to express!"

"Yeah right," sneered Purple. "Girls and emotions are like waterfalls. We men are direct and right to the point!"

"Ha," scoffed Pink. "Perhaps in everything _except_ what's important!"

"You guys are _not_ helping," huffed Coby as Zelda proceed to face palm. Pink, Purple, Angelina, and Starlos all coughed and apologized instantly.

"It's all right guys," Zelda assured. "As soon as we get out of this boring class, my mind will be focusing on nothing but Weapon's Training!"

"I hear that, girl," Angelina agreed with a smirk.

Coby proceed to float comfortably on top of Zelda's head, while Starlos verbally derided Moe for his teaching skills and Starfy's cute but crude drawings. Starfy just shrugged and continued as Moe fought back with a ranting spiel of his own.

Before Moe could get too deep into it, the bell rang, and the group of students thundered to the door with a simultaneous shout of "FREEDOM!" and moved into the hall as one.

"You act like school's out already!" Moe yelled back. Huffing, he turned to ask Starfy a question, only to find a picture of himself shouting angrily on the board. "Starfy! What the heck?"

Starfy blushed, knowing he was busted, and grinned guiltily in return.

* * *

**_Whaaat_? Starfy/Stafy is silent while Red can talk? Blasphemy. ****Anywho, sorry if I mislead ya about who Villain Prep's fifth teacher was. I wasn't trying to. *sweatdrops***

**Next chapter, some trouble is stirred among the heroes, and the villains, as always, are faring _much_ worse...**


	7. Palpable Tension

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 7: Palpable Tension

**Before Sixth Hour-**

The kids trapped in Study Hall quickly burst free of their classroom prison, sprawling into the hallway and quickly searching for the fastest route to get to their next classes. They eventually ran into Damien, Tenn, and Junichi, with Junichi looking extra excited.

"You guys are never going to believe it!" exclaimed Tenn, running over to Pink and Angelina. "Junichi has some amazing abilities!"

"Yes, and we believe we have smoothed out most of the complications that they came with," Damien added.

"It's true! I can't wait to show Ellie!" cheered Junichi.

"Ah, yes about that…" Zelda began, scratching her pointed ears.

"We're going to be separated again this hour!" cried Coby, falling to the ground and screaming dramatically. "WHY? !"

"I'm pretty sure you're going to get stuck in study hall, bro," Zelda said with a satisfied smirk. "You can see how much fun we had fifth hour."

"It can't be that bad," scoffed Damien.

"It totally was," hummed Starlos, Pink, and Angelina. Purple just shook his head.

"Dude, it wasn't that bad," Purple assured. "It was boring, definitely-"

"So it shouldn't be anything that Damien can't handle," snickered Zelda. "I'm just excited for Weapons Training!"

"Me too!" added Angelina. "Maybe it'll take my mind off of how not-me this school is…"

"Aw, WEAK!" yelled Starlos, gaping at his schedule. "I totally DO have Study Hall twice! Forget that- I'm sneaking into Miss Aran's class!"

"Speaking of Miss Aran," Purple began, gesturing to the Flight Training Group approaching. "Here comes Miss Aran-Higgs right now."

Junichi burst with excitement, bouncing toward the newcomer group and excited to see Elysia again.

"Ellie, Ellie, guess what I-"

But the beginning of his statement fell on deaf ears, as Elysia and Team Star Fox was busy discussing the class they'd just came from.

"I couldn't believe I was able to fly through all those rings!" exclaimed Lulu, her hands clasped together.

"I thought it was pretty funny when Skippy almost hit that tree," snickered Marcus, and the others laughed along as well.

"I told you I'm not the best," Skippy chuckled, not abashed at all. "I'm nowhere near as good as Marcus or Elysia!"

"Elysia was pretty impressive," Lulu admitted.

"Oh, you guys," Elysia laughed, clutching her books in front of her. They then realized that the rest of the group was lingering in the hallway, and Elysia gave a light wave. "What's up everybody? What do we have next hour?"

"You've got Specialized Training with Coby, Tenn, Pink, and Purple," commented Zelda. "Me, Angelina, Marcus, and Skippy have Weapons Training."

"Where do the rest of us go?" asked Lulu, referring to herself, Junichi, and Damien.

"Study hall," grumbled Damien, already stalking off in that direction. Elysia frowned a bit and she turned to Junichi.

"Darn it, we're not together again," she sighed, patting Junichi on the head. "Did you learn anything in your fifth hour?"

"…no," Junichi exasperated back, his eyes a fierce red. Elysia noticed this and did a double take.

"What the- Juni, I thought your eyes were gray!"

"They are," Junichi insisted, stepping away from Elysia and snapping his fingers. "Chaos Snap!"

Elysia shielded her face with her books and Junichi teleported the short ways to study hall, a burst of chaos energy flying out of the aftermath. It hit Elysia, and she stumbled backwards with unanticipated shock.

"Ow…what was that all about?"

"Beats me," muttered Coby. "But I am SO glad I don't have study hall again!"

"That's why I'm sneaking in with you guys!" Starlos claimed, dumping himself with yellow paint. "If anyone asks, I'm Twink."

"Why didn't you just stay green, put on a mustache, tuck a book under your arm and call yourself Klevar?" questioned Zelda.

"Because, Twink is more likely to be a hero-in-training! Miss Aran will totally buy it!"

"I really doubt it," huffed Elysia, shaking her head. "When you get busted and get sent to Study Hall, can you see what's up with Junichi? He's never like that…"

Starlos looked insulted. "I will _not_ be busted…but if I do, then sure."

Elysia nodded, leading Coby, Tenn, Pink, and Purple to her mother's class with Starlos tagging along. Zelda and Angelina happily skipped off to Weapons Training, as Marcus and Skippy nonchalantly followed along.

**Sixth Hour, Weapons Training-**

"…where the heck is the teacher?" Zelda questioned impatiently, arms folded with her foot tapping as her other three classmates stared with anticipation at the door. "So unprofessional, being late to teach your class…"

She was about to go complain to Principal Mario when a skylight in the ceiling began to open, and an angel descended down from the heavens.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" he exclaimed, landing gracefully on the ground and waving at his four students. "I got this job on _such_ short notice and I had to consult with Lady Palutena-"

"Glad to see you made it, Pit," Angelina said airily, hands on her hips and smirking. Pit brushed himself off and clasped his hands together.

"Yes, well, nice to see you again as well, Angelina." He turned his attention to class as a whole. "As I'm sure you already know, this is Weapons Training, where you will become more attached to your weapon. And it doesn't matter what kind of weapon it is, because_ I_ am adept in everything!"

Pit clapped his hands together, and one of the walls began to open up. Zelda, Angelina, Marcus, and Skippy all gasped as the widest array of weapons they've ever seen in their short lives was displayed to them. Pit smirked smugly as he skipped over, spreading his arms out at the marvel of his massive collection.

"I've got everything! If you prefer to use a sword, then you'll train with blades. If you use a bow, I've got tons of those! Then there are clubs, orbitars, claws, staffs, arms, palms, and cannons. Me, personally…" he pulled out Palutena's Bow and twirled it about above his head. "I prefer this as my main weapon. It's really special to me, you know?"

"I understand," Zelda spoke up. "You're saying that the first weapon you choose should be the one you train with the most, because there's a special attachment to it?"

"Somewhat, yes," Pit chuckled. "But if I had used the First Blade all through my latest adventure, I'd be a sitting duck!"

"Arms and palms?" Angelina asked. "How come you don't find a weapon called a leg or a foot, huh?"

Pit was about to go into theatrics about his journey when he noticed Skippy rummaging through the shelf of palms.

"This is sweet!" Skippy cheered, grinning when his right hand was suddenly lit up in flames.

"Agreed," added Marcus, the Leo Cannon latched to his arm and firing at a wall. Pit instantly panicked and swiped both weapons away.

"Number one- both of you are going to be space pilots," he explained, hastily placing the weapons back to where they belonged. "That means you don't need palms- you'll need either arms or staffs, or the blasters that your parents use."

"Why can't I use that cannon?" Marcus asked, sounding dejected. Pit sighed, putting the Leo Cannon back with the other Zodiac Weapons.

"Because that particular cannon is very special- it belongs to a group of weapons that were designed by the guardians of the Zodiac…or so I've heard. They're very hard to come by as well. So please, no touch," he waggled a finger for emphasis. "And besides, cannons are too much firepower for someone of your size."

Marcus' ears drooped and Skippy attempted to pick up a Skyscraper Club, only to have it thud against the ground. Pit face palmed as Angelina flew up to the top shelf and selected a blade for Zelda to use.

"Which one do you like, Zelda?" Angelina asked, holding up a Hewdraw Blade.

"Well, I'm kind of partial to my sword, but…" Zelda paced around, looking thoughtful. "Ooh, the Viper Blade looks powerful!"

Angelina put the Hewdraw Blade down, picked up the Viper Blade, and flew down and handed it to Zelda. Pit eyed the weapon and nodded with respect.

"Ah, the Viper Blade. It is the only weapon that inflicts poison when it strikes a foe," he stated intelligently. "Also has nice range. Good for frying Eggplant Wizards while hiding behind a rock."

Zelda grinned and swung it around, then fired at a target that was placed on the wall. She missed the mark by a long shot, but she thought it was cool anyway.

"Yes, that blade's impressive," Angelina admitted, shrugging. "But I like Palutena's Blade better. Much sturdier."

"Hey Angelina!" Marcus called, holding a staff in his hand. "I found a Dark Pit staff- how come you don't wanna use this one?"

Angelina blushed profusely as she whirled around and took aim with Palutena's Blade, firing a bright shot at Marcus' direction. Marcus simply pulled a reflector out of his pocket and deflected the blast with a straight face.

"At easy, children," Pit warned, scolding Angelina with a glance. "In Weapons Training, we never use weapons against each other unless it's a Sparring Day."

"Ooh, Sparring Day," Zelda said, obviously pleased.

"I'd rather have a spa day instead," commented Angelina. "We could all soak in a nice Hot Spring!"

"That does sound really nice…" Pit trailed, getting dreamy just thinking about it.

"Meh," shrugged Zelda, returning to swinging the Viper Blade around. "I've got hot springs back home, and I'm not really sure what the Gorons see in them."

"Hot Springs are amazing!" shrieked Pit and Angelina. Pit then coughed and brushed his hair back. "At least, that's what I've learned among my travels…"

"Oh Pit," came out Palutena's voice, even though only Pit and Angelina could hear it. "You know you love them! Every time you see one you sprint at it!"

"And take out anyone that happens to be in there," added Angelina.

"Hey, there's always room for one more!" defended Pit.

"Don't you have a class to be teaching right now?" Palutena asked while holding back a laugh. "All I'm learning right now is that you have no idea what you're doing!"

"I totally have an idea of what I'm doing! Have some faith in me, Lady Palutena!"

Palutena just smiled from her place in Skyworld. "I have all my faith in you, Pit…but one day you're going to have to pass on your duties to Angelina here, and how can I trust you to do that when you can't keep four kids in check?"

Marcus leaned over to Skippy and whispered, "I had no idea Pit talks to himself."

"I guess he's a few wings short of an angel, huh?"

"Dude, don't talk about his wings! They're messed up or something and that's the reason as to why he can't fly!"

"Oop, sorry- didn't mean to be insensitive!"

"Anyway, Palutena," Angelina began, arms folded. "You don't have to worry about Pit showing off- no one's going to be paying attention to him anyway!"

"Yeah, if we were in some badly written fan fiction or something, no one would read it!" scoffed Pit. "Especially if it included OCs in a high school setting! How unoriginal!"

"You two hush-the rest of the group is giving you weird looks," Palutena pointed out, her presence beginning to fade away. "Just call me if you need me!"

"Right," Pit and Angelina agreed, turning to see Zelda, Marcus, and Skippy gaping at them. "…what? It was a godly conversation!"

"Ah Pit, you're a bad as Link…" Angelina sighed, Pit snickering to himself. Pit then pulled himself together and took the Compact Arm and the Somewhat Staff off of the shelf and handed them to Marcus and Skippy respectively.

"Anyway, after that _divine intervention_, let's get back on track!" Pit exclaimed. "Marcus, I gave you the Compact ARM because that's the closest thing to what you'll be using in the future."

"Nice!" Marcus admitted, firing a few shots for good measure.

"How come I get this goofy-looking thing?" Skippy complained, flinching as the Somewhat Staff blinked back at him.

"It's just until you find a weapon-type that will really suit you," Pit stated. "At least with that you can snipe things from afar!"

Skippy looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Well, that does sound kind of cool."

"Yes!" Pit cheered, pumping a fist to the sky. "Now let's get weaponized!"

"That is so not a word," scoffed Zelda.

"Just roll with it," Pit sighed, clapping his hands and closing the Weapon Closet. He then turned to the target on the wall that Zelda had been trying to shoot at, pulled out Palutena's Bow, and launched a homing arrow straight at the center. The four applauded; Pit took a bow.

"Because heroes like us don't have any special powers- like being able to fly, for example- or because physical ability doesn't come that naturally to us-"

"Excuse me, I DO have powers and physical ability-" Marcus interrupted, but Pit just kept going.

"-We have to turn to world of weapons! Makes a hero look cooler. Now, do all of you have a weapon selected?"

Zelda nodded, Angelina held up Palutena's Blade, Marcus showed off the Compact Arm, and Skippy was still a little put off about his Somewhat Staff. Pit grinned eagerly, then caused dummies of several of his enemies to rise- Thanatos, Hewdraw, Pandora…and Dark Pit just to spite Angelina.

"Today's lesson involves instant annihilation of your enemies!" Pit exclaimed, turning to a Twinbellows dummy and firing an arrow. The dummy exploded upon contact, eliciting cheers from the students. "When done correctly, you can take out weaker enemies in only one shot! However, the dummies are of foes that take more than one shot to defeat, so stay sharp anyway."

"Got it!" Zelda called, being the first to drive a blade into the Great Reaper.

"I'm not attacking him," Angelina said friskily, referring to Dark Pit.

"It's just a dummy, Angelina," Pit smirked. "Pittoo isn't going to attack back!"

"Don't call him that."

"Hey, I'll attack him then!" Marcus offered, firing the Compact Arm while Skippy was still trying to get used to using a staff. Zelda was bold in her attacks, Angelina was swift with Palutena's Blade, attacking everything but certain angel-shaped dummies, Skippy eventually got the hang of the staff and sniped off Thanatos' arm, and Marcus went wild as he breezed through the mannequins, sending tons of stuffing into the air. Everyone eventually started improving, and Pit was pleased.

"Very good kids, though it will take a while to reach my level."

"You wanna bet?" Zelda asked, slashing into a Hades before faking an injury and falling to the floor. "Oh no! Get me to a hot spring! I'M FINISHED!"

She squirmed on the ground, with Pit pouting and Angelina snickering under her breath.

"I'm not finished that often…" he mumbled under his breath.

"Depends on the intensity, doesn't it?" Marcus asked, punching through another dummy and blasting the remains.

"Lady Palutena makes sure that doesn't happen to me," Pit protested, folding his arms. "She always dropped a cake, a melon, or some grapes or something for me to refill on my energy."

"Too bad Medusa can't make things like that," snickered Zelda, now back to hacking things with the Viper Blade. "I hear she's the chef for Villain Prep!"

"Ooh, that's gotta stink," comment Skippy. He was fumbling with the staff again, considering it was pretty much twice the size of him.

"Just remember, kids," Pit began, striking a pose. "Chicken is much more economical!"

**Sixth Hour, Specialized Training-**

Elysia, Pink, Purple, Tenn, Coby, and "Twink" were lined up in a room with metal covering the walls, almost like they were trapped in a steel box. Five of the students were excited to see what they were about to be subject to- one, not so much.

Elysia looked somewhat disappointed when a blinding flash spontaneously appeared in the center of the room, and Tenn made it a point to say that it didn't come from her. When the light subsided, an orange ball was all that remained…until it uncurled and revealed Samus Aran.

"Hello, children," Samus began, taking off her helmet and whipping her ponytail over her shoulder. Purple raised his eyebrows; Pink punched him in the shoulder. "This is Specialized Training, and your group gets this class for the first semester, and the rest of the students will get this second semester. We did it like that so there wouldn't be too many kids going at once."

"So, Miss Aran…what is Specialized Training, exactly?" asked Coby, fidgeting with his mask.

"Excellent question. In Specialized Training, we basically take everything you've learned in the previous five or four classes and apply it to an actual scenario that could take place during your time as heroes," she explained. "For instance, one day we could be feinting an escape out of building, another we might be going over strategies to beat a final boss, and some days we'll practice travelling through different types of terrain. Just ask any member of Team Mario- we've seen it all. Deserts, the frozen north, water-filled places, and even surreal places like ice cream lands or places run by music only."

"Cool," said Coby. "The ice cream lands sound extra tempting."

"Yes…one of my favorite places to visit was a planet called Elysia, located in the Federation Solar System…" Samus continued, beginning to pace as Elysia felt her heart skip a beat. "It's covered in surreal gases, giving it a golden glow…I've only visited a place called SkyTown, which was made by the Chozo, and it was filled with very interesting information. I actually spent a lot of time there during the Phazon crisis…"

Elysia squirmed as Samus reached over to the wall and pressed a button.

"But I digress. Today, I'm going to give you a little taste of what we'll be doing this semester. Anyone have a specific environment that they'd like to go to?"

"Ice cream land!" cheered Coby.

"Not that."

Coby became dejected as "Twink" spoke up. "How about a water place? Please? PLEASE!"

Samus stared at him curiously. "You know you're not supposed to be with me until next semester, right Starlos?"

"Aw how'd you know it was me?"

Elysia sighed as Samus shook her head. "You're the only star-shaped kid on the roster. What, were you trying to pass off as Twink?"

"Yes," scoffed Pink, Purple, and Coby. Starlos suddenly shook as Samus leaned condescendingly over him.

"Hm. Well, it takes a lot of spunk to even want to come to this class, so I'll talk to the Principal about getting your schedule rearranged."

"Oh, I just came because study hall is stupid," Starlos admitted. "But hey, thanks Miss Aran!"

"Consider it your last favor," Samus chuckled a bit too sadistically as the room transformed to a fusion of fire and ice. Snow covered one region of the floor, with ice blocks popped up everywhere. The other side had molten rocks and artificial lava oozing throughout the floor.

"Ooh, that's awesome!" exclaimed Tenn.

"We'll begin with something you all will see at some point in your lives- fire and/or ice areas. Absolutely classic."

"Me first!" yelled Coby, bolting into the fire side and avoiding a spurt of lava. Starlos and Purple cheered and rushed over to the ice side.

"With ice terrain, you have to time your jumps much more carefully, because of the lack of traction. Also, watch out for falling icicles- those will get you too," Samus lectured. "In fire terrain, flames will almost always get in your way at one point or another, so you always have to be on your toes for when a fire geyser erupts or something similar."

"Got it!" said Pink, stopping just before she was sprayed by flames. "Man, if I was a fire-type trainer, I'd come here more often!"

"I'd come here for ice-types," said Purple, skating over a frozen pond and finding Elysia sitting in a snow bank. Curious, he adjusted his cap and trudged through the snow to talk to her. "Hey, what's up with you? …wait, aren't you vulnerable in colder environments due to your Metroid DNA?"

"Yeah, but why do you care?" Elysia asked, shaking her head. "You've bullied my best friend and-"

"I only gave him a hard time because I wanted to talk to you," Purple explained, jamming his hands harshly into his pockets. "You two are always with each other though, so…I guess I tried to push him out of the picture. It backfired, and his mom almost raged on me."

"Well, there are better ways to talk to someone than hurting their feelings," Elysia explained, pulling her knees up to her chest in the snow. "Wish my mother knew that."

"In any case, I've learned my lesson," Purple promised. "So…maybe…can we start over and just be friends?"

Elysia thought it over and smiled. "All right, Purple. I'll give you a second chance, but you have to apologize to Junichi."

"Done," Purple assured, and he joined her in sitting in the snow. Meanwhile, on the fire side, Tenn was practicing getting her PK Fire to be higher than the flames in the room while Coby and Pink were observing Elysia and Purple.

"Well, good to see that they're on better terms now," Pink admitted, looking a little proud.

"Yeah, otherwise if Purple made her mad again, I bet Elysia would use the paralyzing whip on him!" exclaimed Coby.

"Did you just say paralyzing whip…?" Samus trailed, stepping next to the two students and wearing a questioning look. Both students jumped, and Coby let out an unexpected scream.

"Uh, yeah," Pink blinked after recovering from her initial shock. "She used it fourth hour and she was supposed to give it back to you."

Coby nodded in agreement. "She won't tell us how she managed to smuggle it away from you, but man she looked so cool! …uh, Miss Aran?"

Pink and Coby flinched as Samus brewed up a little of her own anger as she trudged through the fake lava and into the snow- and she could've melted the snow without help from the lava.

Purple and Elysia were having a casual conversation, but as soon as they saw Bounty Hunter Samus Aran stomping toward them with an angry flair about her, Purple ran for his life, while Elysia stayed frozen to the spot in her little snow pile.

"Mom, what-" was all Elysia could sputter out before Samus deactivated her Power Suit, lifted Elysia into the air with one hand, and removed the whip from Elysia with the other hand.

"How'd you manage to get this off my person?" Samus asked with a tone that made Purple _glad_ he had bolted.

"You can't expect me to defend myself with only punches and kicks, do you?" Elysia asked, squirming in the grip. "I figured I'd take it while you were sleeping in case something went wrong at school!"

"You know you're not supposed to use this-"

"Well, you won't give me my Power Suit!" Elysia defended.

"That's because you're obviously not responsible enough!" Samus snapped back. "You stole my whip, you let your anger get out of control…how can I trust you with an advanced piece of technology when you can't follow simple instructions?"

"You're letting _your_ anger get out of control! If you'd just give me a chance, Mom-"

Purple, Pink, Coby, Tenn, and Starlos all stopped what they were doing to watch the mother-daughter battle grow, with Elysia six inches off the ground and both of them looking like they were about to explode.

"I'm almost afraid to, if this is how you act," Samus muttered in reply.

"That's not what you're afraid of," Elysia said with shimmering eyes. "You're Samus Aran- you're not supposed to be afraid of anything…"

"I'm not," Samus growled, setting Elysia down and glaring at her. Elysia narrowed her eyes, even trembling as well, before leaning toward her mother and flashing her mandibles. Samus flinched, ducking away the moment she saw them.

"Then why are you afraid of _me?"_

"Well when you do that anyone would recoil," Samus grunted, huffing and spinning away.

Elysia, now furious, lunged again and flew at Samus. Samus sensed her coming, activated her Power Suit, and whirled back around. The students gasped upon witnessing Elysia latch onto Samus' armor protected arm. Almost instantly, Elysia had realized what she'd done and retracted immediately, stepping away from her mother and expecting to be blasted.

Samus, however, backed away, shaking her head.

"You know, when people talk about fearing their teenagers, I'm pretty sure this is not what they meant."

Purple notably whistled as the rest of the kids scattered among the snow and lava. Samus marched toward the wall, pressing the button and turning the room into a recreation of SkyTown. She then left the room, sticking her head through the door to relay a final message.

"I'm going to the nurse. Don't blow up the room while I gone, otherwise I will blow you up."

With that, she was gone. Surrounded by the image of a golden cloud-streaked sky, the group turned to face Elysia, who was leaned up against a wall and lightly sobbing.

**Sixth Hour, Study Hall-**

"Well, Zelda was right," Damien sighed, leaning his cheek on his hand. "There is one thing more boring than me."

Damien, Lulu, and Junichi had sat in uncomfortable silence as Starfy continued to draw on the board and Moe decided to take a nap, but as the end of the hour drew near, Damien and Junichi began to grow antsy- Lulu was still wrapped up in reading a book.

"Yes, Ruby, whatever you like…" Moe mumbled in his sleep.

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" cried Junichi, releasing his exasperation. "No wonder they were all mad about sitting here last hour…we should've ditched this class like Starlos."

"No, because then it would go on our permanent record," Damien pointed out, and Junichi sighed.

"It's only for a few more minutes though…"

"Are you still upset that you didn't get to tell Elysia about your new powers?" Damien asked, upon seeing Junichi so worked up.

"Yeah, a little…but she was busy talking to future Team Star Fox and I didn't want to interrupt."

"Yes, but afterward you vanished in a Chaos Snap and lightly injured her."

"I did? !" Junichi panicked, starting to hyperventilate. "Oh no, she probably hates me now…she'll probably make friends with Purple and turn against me!"

"Junichi, she may have her anger issues, but she'd never do that to you," Damien said, shaking his head.

"I feel like we're in detention," Lulu piped up, not looking away from her book. Damien and Junichi definitely agreed, but then they returned to the conversation.

"Anyway, you have trust Elysia. She's got her mother's class right now, and that can't be easy for her," Damien continued. "She might need you for comfort or something."

"Okay," Junichi nodded. "I kinda feel bad. After all, we've got good relationships with our moms…"

"I know," Damien had a lopsided frown. "But then again, I just can't seem to relate with my father. I'm the exception when it comes to "like father, like son", I suppose…"

"Has Zelda ever told about how she feels about your mother?" Junichi asked quietly. Damien froze and silently shook his head. Junichi nervously tapped his fingers together and wondered if he should keep going. Since he already had Damien's attention, he continued. "Well, she's jealous that she doesn't have any powers like you, because she thinks that if she did, then…"

"Then what, Junichi?"

"…then she believes that Queen Zelda would love her more."

Damien frowned completely now, shaking his head. "Mother loves her very much, just as much as father loves me…it's just a case of one parent over the other, I'm afraid. It's not as abnormal as one would think, but its extreme in our case due to heritage."

"Sometimes I wonder what my real parents are like," Junichi confessed, swinging his legs. "But I'm happy Amy took me in. She cares about me a bunch!"

"Then there's Coby," Lulu injected, flipping a page. "He never really had a choice- he landed in Dreamland on a Warp Star, Meta Knight deemed him a Star Warrior, and he and Kirby took him under their wings."

"You do know that an overabundance of Star Warriors is a sign of impending danger, don't you?" Damien asked, to which Lulu shook her head.

"At least he has something going for him- kids like Tenn, Pink, and Purple are just related to big shots, but don't really have much of a purpose," Lulu countered. "With me, Marcus, and Skippy, we'll inherit our parent's legacy one day."

"Starlos, too…" Junichi trailed, glancing up at Starfy who had joined Moe in taking a nap. "Well, maybe if evil returns to Pufftop, Starlos will take over, but I don't really see that happening. After all, it takes a lot to earn the title 'legendary' like his uncle- think about how Mario earned 'super'!"

"Angelina's going to be captain of the Centurions one day, which is what she's always wanted, so she has something to look forward to as well," Damien added. "I do like her- I feel I've given her the wrong impression about me."

Lulu nodded a little too eagerly. "I believe she has the same opinion as your sister."

"Oh, joy."

The conversation died down, with Starfy laying on Moe and snoring happily, while Moe was mumbling about Ruby again. Eventually, the bell rang, but the room lacked the restlessness it usually had when class was dismissed. Junichi, Damien, and Lulu all scooped up their books and plodded out the door.

Only one more hour to go.

**Before Seventh Hour, Nurse's Office-**

"What can I help you out with, Miss Aran?" asked the school nurse, watching as the Power Suited woman sat on the couch with four sparking holes in her right arm. The nurse wore a white dress with a ribbon-like yellow collar, had dark blue eyes, blazing orange hair, and bright smile.

"Oh, with the formalities- we're on a first name basis, Malon," Samus grumbled, glaring at the wound of her suit.

"…Let me just get out my first aid case," Malon suggested, pulling out a small white box with a red cross on it. She popped it open and pulled out a small flute, and began to hold it to her mouth. "Again, what's the problem, Samus?"

"Elysia bit me," Samus strained to say through gritted teeth. "Obviously she broke through my armor, but I just want to make sure she didn't suck up any of my life force in the process."

"It doesn't look like she went too deep, so I think all of your life force is intact," Malon diagnosed. "But a quick Song of Healing should repair your suit."

Malon played said song, and Samus watched before her very eyes as the holes in her suit had disappeared like they were never there. Once they had been repaired, Samus deactivated her suit and leaned forward, head resting in her palms. Malon put her flute away and folded her hands on her desk.

"Something tells me that more than an armor hole is bothering you," Malon deduced. "I might not be a shrink like Amy, but I'm always available to talk to."

"You wouldn't believe how many times she's bit me when she was a baby…" Samus trailed, more to herself than to Malon. "So why does it hurt so much more now?"

"Because she's at an age where she's establishing who she is, and you just want to be able to relate with her," Malon suggested.

"Yeah, she also wants more responsibility, but she stole my paralyzer whip and bit me! How am I supposed to trust her when she's doing things like that?"

"Well, maybe if you pull back just a bit, you can come to even ground, so to speak. That way, she can have the freedom that she wants, and you can finally trust her."

"You don't even have a kid and you're a better mother than me," grunted Samus, sighing afterward. Malon shrugged.

"I've got a motherly instinct. You can't really have that when you blow up planets every other day."

Samus now leaned back, legs outstretched and arms folded in her lap. "Did I go wrong, somewhere? Anthony and I always made sure she was well-cared for, we gave her everything she needed…"

"You both did fine- Elysia is an amazing girl!" Malon exclaimed. "It's just the Metroid DNA issue that's the core of all the tension."

"I'm the only being that's ever survived a Metroid attack," Samus explained, shaking now. "Sonic said I'm afraid of her. Elysia even thinks I'm afraid of her…I don't think I am, so why is it that every time she bares those fangs that I get…nervous?"

"Look at what happened today- you two got in a fight and she got out of control. Perhaps you're just a little nervous that one day you'll push her too far…and she won't be able to hold back."

"…maybe," Samus admitted, hanging her head. "I don't want that to happen. Despite her abilities, she's made some good friends, so I know she can hold back and fight for what's right…"

Malon rose from her seat and patted Samus on the shoulder.

"Everything will turn out okay. You two are more alike than you think! Elysia's just like you, only…not so abrasive and more approachable."

"Oh,_ thanks_."

"You can't deny it. We all love you anyway, Samus."

Samus was deep in thought for a moment, until she finally snapped out of it with a blink.

"You know what, Malon? There's something I've got to do."

Samus rose from the couch as Malon returned to her own seat. Samus stormed out the door, but Malon coughed. Confused, Samus returned, and Malon smugly handed her a lollipop.

…grimacing, Samus took the sucker and popped it in her mouth, then thundered dramatically out the door once again. Malon sat poised in her seat, awaiting the next person who would enter her office.

"Have a nice day!"

**After Sixth Period-**

Junior, Zeborah, Connor, Penji, Holle, Darcy, and Dash all stood in the main foyer of the school, still a little confused as to why they hadn't had a sixth hour. They'd been hurried into the hall, and had been there for an _hour_, and Holle theorized that since there weren't any more teachers at Villain Prep, their school day was over.

"That, is where you are wrong, Miss Hel."

The seven turned to see Wolf O'Donnell, walking up to them with a killer grin and his arms folded behind his back. Darcy seemed extra excited.

"Uncle Wolfie!"

"Pudding pop!" Wolf exclaimed, holding out his arms for a hug. The other six students stared questioningly, but Wolf snapped back with, "What? I can show emotion, darn it!"

"What're you doing here?" Darcy asked, pulling away from the hug. "Are you going to be teaching a class?"

"Not quite," Wolf explained, chuckling darkly. "I'm here for something a little more…deviously deviant…"

Then, Bowser, Ganondorf, Eggman, and King Dedede emerged out of the shadows, with Ganondorf holding Ridley's chain and guiding him like a kite.

"I'm still not finished with you brats!" yelled Ridley, still trying to bust free. Ganondorf hit him with a plume of fire.

"Shut up, you pterodactyl."

"Why I _never_! I am at LEAST a dragon, you worthless piece of-"

"Anyway," Connor interrupted. "Would anyone care to inform us as to why we are sitting in the hallway?"

"Did all the classrooms blow up?" asked Penji.

"No, no, nothing like that…" Bowser began, a pleased smile on his face.

"We've recently received word from the principal giving us special permission for sixth and seventh hours…" Ganondorf trailed, looking dangerously excited.

"We're all looking forward to this- it'll be quite a smash!" bellowed Eggman.

"It'll really give you what you need to be a great villain!" King Dedede exclaimed. "…you know, if that's what you want to be."

"Of course that's what they want to do!" screeched Ridley. "They wouldn't be here if they didn't, buffoon!"

"Why'd we hire him?" King Dedede leaned over to ask Eggman, and the doctor just shook his head.

"So, what's the big idea?" Zeborah asked impatiently.

"Children…" Wolf began, taking a few steps forward and looking like a commanding officer. "I am your Extracurricular Counselor… and we're taking a field trip."


	8. True Colors Shine Forth

**Hoo, everyone's clamouring for a battle, eh? Well, we'll just have to wait and see. :P**

**And to the person who suggested Red as the art teacher- absolutely hilarious. XD Unfortunately, that is not the case...**

* * *

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 8: True Colors Shine Forth

**Pre-Seventh Hour-**

Damien, Junichi, and Lulu turned the corner to greet Zelda, Angelina, Marcus, and Skippy, who were all excitedly chatting about their weapons and Pit in particular. Zelda eventually cut from the group and skipped over to Damien.

"So, how was study hall?"

Damien shrugged. "It became insightful at the end."

"Where's everyone else?" asked Junichi, impatiently bouncing on his heels.

"They should be coming from Specialized Training," Marcus pointed out. "I hear that you're put into heroic situations in that class!"

"Oh yeah?" Angelina asked with a smirk. _"I_ heard that something went wrong between Samus and Elysia and Miss Aran had to leave in the middle of class!"

"What!" cried Damien, Lulu, Zelda, and Junichi.

"You were in Weapons Training!" exclaimed Skippy. "How could you _possibly_ know that? !"

"Angelic intuition."

The seven then heard hushed whispering from down the hall, and they knew it had to be the other six. Tenn was the first to turn the corner looking distraught, Starlos seemed disappointed despite having gotten out of having Study Hall twice in a row, Coby was blathering semi-comforting things, Pink was walking solemnly in the back, and Elysia was leaning on Purple for comfort, drying away the last of her tears.

"Oh man, I was right- she _did_ ditch me for Purple," winced Junichi, but Damien snapped at him to keep quiet.

"Wow, you guys look…disconsolate," Zelda whistled. "Was your sixth hour really that bad?"

"Oh no- it was pretty fun," Coby told her, fidgeting with his mask. "I think it'll prove useful during our training as heroes…because it's totally cool!"

"Humor me for rumor's sake- did Miss Aran _really_ run out in the middle of class?" Angelina asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah," Purple replied flatly, shaking his head.

"Do what I told you," Elysia muttered out between sobs. Purple blinked then turned to Junichi.

"Oh yeah. I should have done this about four hours ago, but I'm sorry for how I acted around you this morning, Junichi. Really, I apologize, and I hope we can make amends."

"Well…technically, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have found out I can do things like this," Junichi explained, his eyes turning orange as he put his palms together. "Chaos Burst!"

A small sphere appeared in his hands as he demonstrated, and as if someone had hit a switch, all traces of sadness vanished from Elysia's expression. She quickly away from Purple and approached Junichi.

"Whoa…is this what you were trying to tell me earlier?" Elysia asked, and Junichi nodded, shrinking the ball of Chaos Energy and hanging his head.

"Yeah, but you were busy with other people, and I didn't want to interrupt or anything…" He heaved a sigh. "Besides, you looked like you were having fun…"

"What're you talking about? This is huge!" exclaimed Elysia, putting her hands on Junichi's shoulders. "Juni, that's amazing! You've found out what you can do!"

She eagerly wrapped him a hug, which he quickly accepted. Purple stood above them with his arms folded and an approving look.

"At least she's got something else on her mind, for now anyway," Purple stated, turning to Pink. "But we've still have seventh hour, don't we?"

"Yup," Pink said wearily. "All we know is that Red is teaching and we have no idea_ what_ he's teaching."

"If Red is instructing, it must be something serious," stated Starlos.

"We'd better get going then, because Red is the last person who is going to tolerate it if we are late," Damien stated, motioning for his group. Coby eagerly bounced next to him, Zelda stood to his right, and Junichi and a much less upset Elysia followed after. Pink, Angelina, and Tenn marched off together, Marcus, Lulu, and Skippy naturally stayed together, and Purple and Starlos brought up the back.

Whatever they were about to walk into was bound to be interesting.

**Seventh Hour, Battle Class-**

The room was dark when the class initially entered, but as soon as the thirteen of them were all in place, the lights flashed on, revealing the room to resemble an arena of sorts. In the middle was Red, one arm raised in the air and his back greeting the group.

"Hello, kids," Red stated, spinning around and strolling up to them. "This class could possibly be the class that determines whether you stay on the side of life…or enter a dark realm of death."

"It's a dark realm indeed," commented Angelina.

"What's with the theatrics, Red?" Pink asked, hands on her hips. Red shrugged and took out a Pokeball.

"I dunno- it fits the theme of the class."

He tossed the Pokeball into the air, causing it to crack open and reveal Pikachu within. He landed stoically on the ground, in a battle ready stance.

"This is Battle Class, kiddies. During your path to becoming a hero, and even after you do become one, you will inevitably end up in some sort of fight, whether with a rival, final boss, mini boss, recurring boss…you _will_ have to fight at some point. Here you will learn how to properly fight, how to fight in different situations, and just like in Specialized Training for those who have it this semester, you will utilize everything that you've learned in the previous six hours."

"That sounds cool!" cried Coby. "What's our first assignment going to be?"

"Well, sport, I was thinking-"

Suddenly, the lights turned red and began flashing, an alarm blared out, a sense of panic flooded the room, and Red unexpectedly gasped.

"Wow, what _are_ the odds?" whistled Starlos.

"The principal hit the alarm," Red explained. "…that means either a tornado is carrying a car, or we're about to be under attack."

"Are you sure it's not just a drill?" Damien asked.

Red gave him a look. "If it was, I wasn't informed about it."

"It's the first day of school! We don't know the fire drills, tornado drills, lockdown drills, or the 'we're under attack' drills!" gaped Coby. "We're not supposed to do things like that until the second week!"

"Everyone, remain calm and head for the hall!" Red ordered, and everyone began marching to the rather larger foyer that Hero High had. "All of the faculty should be gathered there, and once we're debriefed on the situation, we'll either head to the gym or launch a counterattack!"

"This better not be a regular thing…" complained Angelina, gliding out the door behind Tenn.

Damien naturally led the charge, followed by Zelda, Junichi, Elysia, Coby, Purple, Pink, Tenn, Angelina, Marcus, Lulu, Skippy, Starlos, and finally Red and Pikachu, filing out toward the school's foyer. By the time they got there, Mario, Link, Sonic, Kirby, Samus, Pit, Fox, Falco, Ness, Starfy, Moe, Peach, Zelda, Amy, Luigi, Malon, Tails, Meta Knight, and Knuckles were already waiting, and looking rather agitated.

"We picked up signs of enemies approaching from our radars in the janitor's closet- I mean the, um, other office," coughed Knuckles.

"They're coming from the south, and I doubt there's enough to outnumber us, but they could be powerful," Tails pointed out, looking worried.

"We've prepared for this," Falco assured, noticing the confused and unconfident looks on the students' and some of the faculty's faces.

"Yeah, no worries," said Ness, giving a peace sign. "This'll be like Saturday morning for us!"

"Well_ I_ didn't sign up for this!" complained Moe. He turned to Starfy, who was now looking ready to spring into action. "You'd better stay on your toes, Starf."

"Fwee!"

"Looks like the fight is on!" Pit exclaimed, splitting apart Palutena's Bow into dual blades. "I guess the kids are getting a workout a little early!"

"We are _not_ putting the children in danger!" exclaimed Queen Zelda, scolding Pit on the spot.

"Yes, I believe the adults should take care of this- there are more than enough of us," added Peach.

"But- we can help!" exclaimed Coby, looking hopeful. "We've already learned so much from you guys and-"

"Sorry Coby," Kirby interrupted. "Tails already confirmed that the adults alone outnumber the threat, so you'll only get to see some action if our numbers suddenly begin to dwindle."

"And I completely doubt that," huffed Samus, blasting a missile at the wall and bursting it into bricks. While the younger ones were impressed, Tails went slack jawed.

"I just fix that three hours ago, darn it!"

"Er…sorry."

"They're coming from the south, right?" Fox asked, and Malon nodded to confirm it. "Then shouldn't we get to the gym _before_ they get here and destroy the school?"

"Yeah, then I'll have to clean it up," grumbled Knuckles.

"I'll have to fix it!" exasperated Tails with his hands in the air.

"And I'll drive the bus with the supplies!" added Meta Knight.

"Focus people, Fox is right!" Link cried, pointing to the gym doors. "Let's get in position!"

"Right!" yelled Sonic, Pit, Falco, Kirby, Red, Ness, Zelda, and Samus, storming into the room. The other heroes followed after, with the students left behind.

"You kids stay in the hall with Moe," Amy instructed, pulling out her hammer and running into the gym. "And don't follow us unless we're all dying."

"Aw man!" complained Starlos. "They get to kick butt and we get to be babysat by a clam? !"

"Hey, can it!" shouted Moe, a pulsing 'X' appearing on his forehead.

"You fell asleep sixth hour. How are we supposed to trust you?" scoffed Damien.

As Moe sulked about that, the heroes rushed into the gym, with Mario making sure the door was shut tightly behind him. He then waded through the heroes, taking his place front and center and surrounded by his friends.

"We'll show these guys who they're messing with, interrupting our first day of school…" grunted Samus, preparing a charge beam.

Mario, Link, Kirby, Sonic, and Samus were the first line of defense, followed by Pit, Fox, Falco, Ness, Starfy, and Red, followed by Luigi, Malon, Tails, Meta Knight, and Knuckles, and the girls taking up the back. They all stood in battle positions, waiting for the threat to come crashing right through the door.

And crash it did.

The wall came falling in, a brick just missing Mario by a few mere inches. Silhouetted in the late afternoon light were a Koopa Klown Kar, an Egg Pod, a Wolfen, the Dedede Mobile, and a warlock with a dragon's chain in his hand.

"Hello, _Principal_ Mario," Bowser greeted from his ride, which was smiling just as wickedly as he was.

"Sorry to drop by so unexpectedly, but we felt the need to crash the party!" cackled Eggman.

"You have no right to be here!" boomed Sonic, pointing a finger in their direction.

"Yeah, get out of here before we mess your faces up!" Kirby yelled. King Dedede shook his head from his car.

"No way! We just got here! At _least_ allow us to drop off a little gift…"

"It's even got two parts to it," grinned Ganondorf.

"It's probably revenge and punishment or something," Link scoffed, sword held out in front of him.

"Forget this useless banter that is inferior to my own!" Ridley shouted. "Let's just kill them all and mount their pelts on the wall…I'll enjoying using that green hat as a sock, and I'll turn Samus' armor into pots and pans…and I also hear that spicy angel wings are quite tasty…"

Pit gulped as Samus furiously aimed her cannon as her arch foe. "Float a little lower and I'll give you a taste of ten missiles shoved down your throat!"

"At ease, heroes," Wolf ordered, rising from his ride. "We'll just drop off our little surprise, ransack your school, leave it shambles, and force your children to attend Villain Prep instead, where they will be bred into tomorrow's villains!"

"…really? _That's_ what the plan is?" Eggman asked, shaking his head. "I assumed we were just going to bring the school down and beat up the next generation?"

"…I thought we were supposed to destroy all the heroes?" questioned Dedede with extreme confusion. "You know, we break in, fight commences, we win for once, and then we've got free reign on the worlds."

"That was SO not the plan!" Bowser exclaimed. "Although it is a pretty good one-"

"I thought we were going to kill everybody!" exasperated Ridley. "…but seriously, spicy angel wings DO sound very appetizing."

"Oh, forget this," sighed Link. "ATTACK!"

Mario pointed forward, causing the heroes to all lunge at the baddies. However, Bowser simply looked smug and snapped his fingers.

"Oh, Principal Mario…meet _our_ Principal!"

Team Mario braked to a stop, with Mario staring wide eyed as the sky went dark and Tabuu emerged from nowhere, wrapped into a fetal position and seemingly charging power.

"Oh no…" trailed Fox as Starfy gulped.

"What the heck?" asked Knuckles, staring at Tabuu with utter confusion.

"I may be no longer powerful enough to completely put you out of commission…" Tabuu droned silently yet prominently. "…but I can still stun you long enough for us to wreak havoc! HYAH!"

Tabuu spread out his arms and legs as a pair of rainbow wings materialized behind him, sending out a paralyzing shockwave. The villains were safe from the blast in the machines, but the heroes were all unprotected. Mario, Link, Sonic, Kirby, and Samus stood against it for as long as they could, but they ended up flying backward into everyone else, causing a massive pile up of heroes. Everyone had collapsed to the ground with one strike, sprawled all over the floor and dangerously weak. They hadn't been turned into trophies or anything like that…but for heaven's sake, why couldn't they _move_?

"That went much better than expected," chuckled Tabuu, throwing his head back and filling the air will his laugh. "Storm the school! Leave no desk unturned until we have the heads of all thirteen students! No hero shall be left without having been struck by my comeuppance!"

"YES! Finally, some real action!" Ridley exclaimed. He then glared down at Ganondorf. "I think you should let me go, now, if you please…"

"There's two problems with that- one, you'll cause a massive genocide, and two, we're going to let the kids go find the heroes," Ganondorf explained.

"What a lame idea for a field trip," the students all scoffed, with Junior flying down in his own Koopa Klown Kar, Connor driving up in his VACAW with Zeborah riding on the side, Penji leaping out of the Dedede Mobile, Darcy and Dash springing out of the Wolfen, and Holle simply walking in through the back door.

"Seriously? There was a door," she huffed, shaking her head. "Was it necessary to blast a wall down?"

"We're destroying the school anyway!" Wolf barked. "Besides, we needed a cool and attention-grabbing entrance."

Darcy smacked her forehead.

**Meanwhile-**

Damien, Zelda, Junichi, Elysia, Coby, Tenn, Pink, Angelina, Purple, Marcus, Lulu, Skippy, and Starlos had all somehow managed to press their faces against the window on the door, witnessing their parents, guardians, relatives, and friends all collapse from a single attack.

"I knew Tabuu's wings were strong..." Junichi began. "...But I thought Sonic had destroyed them?"

"I thought Tabuu had been destroyed_ period_," Damien murmured under his breath.

"Clearly he's back, and he's now the principal!" cried Coby. "The horror!"

"His powers obviously aren't at one hundred percent, but if they can still knock out a squadron of insanely strong people, then there's definitely a problem," Elysia pointed out.

"Forget that! What about our parents?" Zelda wondered. "Those bad guys are gonna destroy them, the school, and then probably us!"

"My dad needs us!" yelled Marcus.

"They _all_ need us," Lulu added, her ears drooping sadly.

"Miss Rose said we should only go in there if they were all dying," Pink commented.

"They look pretty on the verge of death to me," scoffed Purple.

"Hey, I'm in charge, remember!" Moe called out, and everyone settled down. "…and yeah, you'd better get on in there before we all die. I enjoy living very much, and I've gotta get back to Pufftop tonight! I'll miss my shows!"

"You're a real piece of work," muttered Starlos, sighing in defeat.

"Well, if we're going to do this, we'll need to work together," Damien started to say, walking into the middle of the group. "This is our first big fight, and even though we've only had a day's worth of education, we're going to have to use all we've learned!"

He put a determined fist in the middle, with Zelda trotting up and putting her hand on top of his.

"You've got the best interests at heart, Brother. I think I'll trust you just this once."

"Agreed," said Junichi, Elysia, and Coby, putting their hands in the pile as well.

"Count me in, too!" cried Tenn, being the next one to add her hand. "As I've said before, I'm ready for anything! And no crying until the end…"

"If Tenn's in, then so am I," said Angelina, gliding over. "This'll show Pit and Palutena that I can really handle myself!"

"Us too," Pink and Purple stated.

"Future Team Star Fox is at your service!" Marcus said with a grin as he, Lulu, and Skippy joined in.

"Anything to get away from Moe," sighed Starlos, jumping on top of the hand pile. The students then threw up their hands, with Starlos careening into the air with a wild cheer.

"You go, kids!" cheered Moe. "Use the superpower…OF FRIENDS!"

Silence.

"Yeah…you make superpower of teamwork sound good," coughed Angelina.

. . .

"All right, you six," Bowser Junior began, leading the way across the gym and to the door. "Our adversaries could be anywhere in this school, so we'll have to scour every inch of this school in order to-"

"Stop right there, fiends!" Damien's voice boomed out, followed by him kicking the door open with the other twelve kids in fighting stances behind him. "Prepare to fall at the hands of the next generation as we avenge our currently fallen predecessors!"

"Bro, we're regular heroes, not super heroes," scoffed Zelda. "No need for a monologue."

The seven villains were silent.

"…well _that_ was easy," commented Holle.

"What do we do now?" whispered Penji.

"I believe this is the part where we throw about some witty banter before getting our butts handed to us," Connor pointed out.

"_No_," Junior snapped, turning to face Damien. "Look, Fancy Pants, we've already invaded your school and we're about to mess you up! Why should you guys get an exuberant education while we have to suffer with terrible teachers, inedible lunches, and…we only have five classes because heroes like you defeat so many good villains, and thus they can't pass their wisdom onto us!"

"That… can't be the reason why you're here," Marcus gaped.

"No, we're gonna beat up you guys, bust up the school, then proceed to take over as many worlds as we can," explained Darcy. "But the school thing is still a big factor as well."

"That's my girl!" Wolf explained, receiving a look from Eggman.

Damien just narrowed his eyes as his hands lit on fire. "Whatever. I don't have a battle cry or anything yet so…get them?"

"_I'll _do it- you're hopeless," sighed Zelda, brandishing her sword and pointing forward. "You are outnumbered and outmatched…so if you are asking for a death wish, then we shall grant it! HAVE AT YOU!"

Damien blinked obliviously as twelve children ran right by him with their fists flying and weapons swinging. Shaking his head, he rushed at Junior and shouted, "Din's Fire!"

A dome of flames swirled around the Koopa Prince, but Junior just laughed and inhaled, taking it the flames as well. When his cheeks were at full capacity, he blew the fire right back at Damien, making them brighter and stronger than before. Damien put up a hasty Nayru's Love, the diamond-shape shield keeping him safe from the dastardly flames.

Once the flames died down, Damien cast away the shield and yelled, "Farore's Wind!", teleporting out of sight. Junior panicked and instantly looked around, only to turn to see Damien, who proceeded to kick Junior in the face.

Meanwhile, Zelda and Tenn were versing Zeborah, who had both swords going at once. She was a vicious and lethal-bladed tornado, swinging her swords flawlessly at the other girls and even landing a few blows. Zelda kept her shield raised at all times and waited for opportune times to strike while Tenn was blocking with her golf club and casting as many spells as she knew.

"PK Freeze!" Tenn had called, creating a large snowflake with her mind and directing it at Zeborah. Zeborah didn't dodge in time, thus becoming captivated in ice and allowing Tenn to strike her in the head with the golf club.

"Ow, what's the big idea! ?" Zeborah yelled, fighting to get free.

"We just put you on ice," Zelda said with a smirk. In turn, Zeborah glared in her direction, closing her eyes as her hands began to glow purple. Zelda and Tenn frowned as the ice was melted away and Zeborah was free once again.

"Nice try, but now it's my turn."

She let out a Gerudo cry and she spun herself at Zelda, Zelda holding up her shield and cringing at the onslaught of strikes. Eventually, Zeborah held back a bit, and Tenn used this opportunity to cast PK Thunder. Zeborah was briefly paralyzed by the attack, which lasted long enough to allow Zelda to roll behind her and perform a devastating back slice.

"Oh, this is really chaotic…" Penji muttered, running past the battling children and the fallen adults, some of them still awake but very disoriented. The adult villains were still standing from where they had entered, simply basking in the fact that they finally had an advantage.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?" Coby asked, bouncing onto the scene with his mask over his face and approaching the penguin. Penji winced on the spot and took a few steps away, feeling very threatened.

"Stay away from me!" he warned, unintentionally creating a snowball in his hands. "Or I'll…I'll…"

"You'll do _what_, ne'er do well? Build a snowman"

"I'll _do this_!" Penji cried, the snowball growing into massive proportions and rolling toward Coby. Coby initially gasped, but instead he held his ground, removed his mask, and began to inhale. Penji just gawked as Coby ingested the entire snowball, eventually becoming Ice Coby and putting his mask back into place.

"It appears we're on even ground, now!" called Coby, blowing an icy wind in front of Penji and creating an ice cube. He then kicked it toward Penji, but Penji pulled out his mini Jet Mallet and smacked it back. Coby yelled as the ice cube hit him head on, continuing to slide until he was smashed against the wall. Penji was looking pretty proud of himself until Pink and Purple ran up to him, with Kadabra at Pink's side and Seviper at Purple's.

"Seviper, Poison Jab, let's go!" commanded Purple, and Seviper slithered right up to Penji and jabbed him with its tail, effectively temporarily poisoning Penji. "All right, now use Poison Fang!"

"Seviper!" the Fang Snake Pokemon cried, now lunging at Penji with its jaws wide open and fangs glowing purple. Penji, despite being poisoned, winced and swung up his Jet Mallet, striking Seviper in the snout and sending it careening away.

Pink fumed and pointed at Penji, calling out, "Use Psycho Cut, Kadabra, then follow up with Confusion!"

"Kadabra!" Kadabra cried, beginning to shine as it performed Psycho Cut on Penji. Penji yelped and hit the ground, only to look up into Kadabra's eyes as they were glowing. Penji's eyes began to spin, and the young penguin found himself confused.

"It's super effective!" cheered Pink and Purple, slapping a high five.

They then ducked as Marcus McCloud leapt over them, using the Compact Arm he had "borrowed" from weapons training. Darcy was firing back at him with her laser rifle while Dash used his own blaster, though his shots kept being deterred by Marcus' reflector.

"Darn you, McCloud!" Dash yelled, still firing rapidly with stray shots striking some of the unconscious heroes.

"Sorry, but we've got a school to protect!" Marcus shouted, the blasts from the Compact Arm hitting Dash several times.

"Can't let you do that, Star Fox!" Darcy called, cartwheeling in front of Dash and shooting a laser at Marcus.

It would have hit him in the torso, if Lulu hadn't shouted, "Do a barrel roll!"

Marcus hit the ground and rolled right under the blast, following up by attacking Darcy as well. Lulu then twirled up and performed a round house kick, sending the lavender-wearing wolf to the ground. Skippy proceeded to hop by with an explosive in his hand, throwing it at Dash and crying, "I use bombs wisely!"

"Okay, that's enough references," growled Holle, locked in fierce competition with Angelina. Her staff was glowing brighter than ever as she battered back the arrows that Angelina launched from her Fortune Bow.

"What's wrong, Hel?" Angelina smirked, swapping to Palutena's Blade and swinging at her. "The Underworld got you a little down?"

"Oh, shut up!" Holle roared back, spinning her staff and blocking every move Angelina made. "Don't you have a lame boyfriend to be fighting with right now?"

"We broke up! Shows how in the know you are! Don't you have cruddy Commanders to be dealing with, Hel?"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT, YOU WEAKLING!"

"YOU'RE FINISHED!"

The girls growled and thrust their weapons at each other, their faces so close together that Holle could stretch out and bite Angelina on the nose. However Angelina backed away and flew upward, sending beams down that Holle absorbed into her staff and redirected at the angel. Eventually, one of them hit Angelina's wings, causing her to fall out of the air and for Holle to burst out in a mad cackle.

"Finished! FINISHED!"

However, Damien saw her tumbling down, so he punted Junior away, rushed over, slide across the floor, and caught her before she hit the ground. Angelina cracked open an eye and was actually surprised to see that Damien had caught her.

"Please tell me you're not going to follow this up with a line about having caught a fallen angel."

"I wasn't going to but-"

"See you in the Underworld, heroes," Holle spat, now flying above the ground and launching another beam at Angelina. Damien cast Nayru's Love, protecting them both, while Angelina wrenched out of Damien grip and fired an arrow at Holle. Holle screeched when it stuck her arm, causing her to drop her silver staff.

"What? NO! NO!" she howled, fruitlessly flying down after it. It hit the floor long before she did, the orb shattering and freeing all the souls that had been trapped within. "…damn you, now I have to make another Soul Ball! Do you know how long that takes? ! DO YOU?"

"Um…25 years?" Angelina asked meekly.

Holle scowled, closing her eyes, then reopened them as pure red, signaling the start of a transformation that she didn't want. The angel and the prince cringed, but then Holle grew small red horns, bat-like wings, fangs, and what was probably the worst was the fact that the left side of her body was nothing but a skeleton, half exposed.

Class evil red flags.

Damien and Angelina gasped as Holle looked utterly horrified at the fact that she _looked _horrifying. Eventually she snarled, upset that it had come to this, and took off into the air, sending a large ball of energy in their direction. Angelina still appeared shocked as Damien put up Nayru's Love again.

"Holle…what…?" Angelina sputtered out in disbelief.

"This is what I looked like before being crowned Queen of the Underworld…" Holle seethed, shaking with rage. "I try so hard to never let it come to light again, I tried so hard to stay somewhat normal, but you've driven me to no choice!"

Angelina gulped and shuffled behind Damien, with the prince ready to teleport, defend, or counterattack if needed.

"What do you think of me _now_," True Hel asked, preparing to soar down and destroy them. Even the skull half of her face was expressing emotion. "…now that you've driven me to _this_! ?"

"What I think?" Damien asked nonchalantly, his eyes darting a bit to the left. "I think you're about to get a load of this."

"A load of _what_-OOMPH!"

True Hel was then smacked by a ton of missiles, with Connor whizzing by in the CAVAW and being chased by Junichi, Elysia, and Starlos. As True Holle flew into the wall and cascaded back to the floor, Junichi's eyes turned green while he shouted, "Chaos Magic!"

He snapped his fingers, causing a brief sparkle of energy to flicker about them. Then, Connor's machine was suddenly rocked to the left, and he jerked on the steering to keep it on course. Eventually, he spun around until he was facing the trio, and managed to dispatch Starlos on the spot with the hot fudge squirter. Starlos cried out in utter agony until he tasted his defeat.

"…hey! This is really good! Lick, lick…"

Junichi and Elysia sighed and focused on Connor, who was grinning just like his uncle would. His fingers were drumming on the dashboard, buttons spread out and ready to be played like a piano.

"Any preferences as to how you want to be defeated?" Connor asked, going over the buttons. "Lasers, missiles, death ray, disintegration beam…or hot fudge!"

"I'd take what Starlos is having," Elysia scoffed. "But I had a heavy lunch."

"Me too, actually," added Junichi. "Too bad you can't say the same."

"That does it- I'm firing my lasers!"

Connor pressed several buttons, with Elysia back flipping out of the way and Junichi dodging to the side. His eyes turned light blue as he held out his hands in front of him, crying "Chaos Strike!"

A blue pulse emerged, flying at Connor and striking him confused. In his confusion, Connor accidentally hit the hot fudge button, causing the nozzle to jet out, taking aim at him, and pelting himself with a nice coating of hot fudge. Elysia snickered a bit as Junichi finished it all off with Chaos Impact, his eyes darkening to indigo while he thrust his fist into the ground and knocking the CAVAW on its side, forcing it to retract back into a small orb. Connor sprawled out in the floor, covered in chocolate and muttering incoherent things.

"Well, that went a little better than expected," commented Elysia, glancing around.

"You do know that there's always two parts to a battle right?" Damien asked.

"Duh!" replied Zelda. "The first part is always some sort of decoy while the second…half…is…"

"The second half is always a battle that is _much_ more worth your time," Ridley said with a sneer, now free and able to fly on his own. He was much less crazy when not in captivity. "And worth your lives!"

"Hold on…did you use your kids as a _front_? !" Angelina gasped in realization.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Bowser began while chuckling. "You see, we didn't want to be outdone when Hero High was built, so we whipped up Villain Prep as a countermeasure. Despite the fact we didn't have as many resources, we were still able to train a new generation of evil, thanks to Tabuu!"

"All according to plan…" Tabuu simpered evilly. "All we had to do was implant a seed of hatred through education into each child, thus fueling their desire to fight. Once we came here, I was going to use my first shockwave to dispatch the adults, then have our students fight you so that you would have exhausted yourself while our students were beaten so badly that they won't get in our way."

"Now, all we have to do is destroy the building, effectively destroying all of you in the process, and then the worlds will be ours for the taking!" Eggman bellowed.

"Are you insane? !" guffawed Coby. "…you planned to do that in only one day? !"

"Worse than that- they exploited their own successors just to get an advantage!" Purple shouted. "That's just wrong!"

"That's why we're _evil_," Ridley sneered, although the other villains except Tabuu did seem a bit regretful upon hearing Purple's words.

"That explains why they stayed in the background while we fought our hearts out," huffed Tenn.

"So much for 'even evil has loved ones' huh?" Starlos scoffed.

Then, the sky grew dark again, and the thirteen heroes dared to look up to witness Tabuu spreading his wings again. Most of them panicked, fearing that they would end up just like their predecessors, but Tabuu pulled a fast one and instead used his laser vision to direct a precise laser down at the children. Everyone screamed, but of all people, Elysia jumped to the front and intercepted the laser before it had struck anyone.

"Whoa!" shouted the heroes, Bowser, Eggman, Ganondorf, King Dedede, and Wolf.

"ARGH, what? !" scowled Ridley and Tabuu.

"NO! ELLIE!" wailed Junichi, falling to his knees in disbelief.

"I had to…redeem myself…somehow…" was all Elysia muttered before the force of the laser flung her across the room, rolling along the floor and smoking a bit. The remaining students gasped and began to run over to help, but Tabuu's wings spread again, and this time, he planned on using the shockwave.

"Now to get the definitive revenge on those who once struck me down…" Tabuu's voice rumbled, the smile on his face now gravely serious.

* * *

**Let's count the tropes used and referenced, shall we? ;P**

**In all seriousness though, I'd love to elaborate on the 'extreme' plot of the villains, but that would induce spoilers and we wouldn't want that, nah? ;)**


	9. The Battle Continues to Rage

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 9: The Battle Continues to Rage

**Seventh Period, in the Gym-**

The next generation of heroes were pretty much staring their fate in the face- their parents, relatives, and guardians had been knocked unconscious, their adversaries had been defeated and used by their own superiors, and now things were about to come to an end for them as well…even despite Elysia's best efforts.

"Any last words before I send you with your parents?" Tabuu asked demonically, prepared to end them all without giving them a say. A few thought about running away, others were unsure as to what to do…but Junichi then silently thought to himself in the last few moments of consciousness he had left.

"_Hmm…if Sonic was able to shatter this guy's wings, then why can't I?"_

"I've got a few last words," blared Zelda obnoxiously, hands on her hips and glaring at Tabuu. "You're an idiot!"

"I've got some too," stated Junichi, his eyes blazing yellow. "Chaos Bind!"

Tabuu suddenly felt his wings begin to freeze up, rendering them unable to create a shockwave. He roared in agony, fighting to move them, but they were completely immobile.

"Quick! Throw Starlos up there!" Junichi cried, turning to Lulu. "This will only last for less than a minute!"

"That's more than enough time," said Lulu, picking Starlos up by the arm and throwing him like a boomerang.

"Yee-haw!" Starlos cheered, pumping a fist when he crashed through one of Tabuu's wings and boomeranged into the other. Tabuu roared in anguish, descending towards the ground against his will, although it did close the distance between him and the heroes. Tabuu attempted to use this to his advantage by planning to capture some of the kids in a set of Golden Brackets, but while Marcus, Angelina, and Coby jumped out of the brackets' path, Tenn held Tabuu off with PK Freeze.

"I'm tempted to say something along the lines of 'cool down', but I'm sure you already know that," she grumbled, conjuring up a PK Thunder after that. The attack hit Tabuu right in the chest, but instead of crying out in agony, Tabuu simply laughed.

"You foolish children dare to stand against me? The very people you look up to are not heroes- they cast me down and planned to let me rot in my own dimension…but I finally managed to escape my infernal prison to bring justice to these unmerited beings!"

"They're_ not_ the bad guys- you once tried destroying all our worlds by dragging bits and pieces of them into your own, warping such beautiful places into a dark and depressing limbo!" Purple shouted, holding a firm a grip on his hat. "If they hadn't stopped you, the universe as we know it wouldn't be!"

"Wow Purple, I'm impressed," stated Pink, smirking a bit. Purple just gave a small shrug.

"Well, it's true, and the creep deserves more than just the beating we're about to give him!"

"I would_ love_ to see you try," Tabuu hissed, snapping out a chain of light, latching onto Purple, and whipping him into Pink. Both Pokemon Trainers yelped as they hit the ground, now sporting a few bruises, but no way were they about to back down yet.

"Seviper," Purple hissed, glaring daggers at Tabuu. "Poison Fang, right at that purple orb in his chest!"

"Psyshock him afterwards, Kadabra!" ordered Pink, and the two Pokemon went into action. Seviper swiftly dodged the swipes of Tabuu's arm and latched its fangs into Tabuu's chest, pricking the heart within and effectively poisoning Tabuu. Tabuu's cause continued to diminish when Kadabra used Psyshock, giving Tabuu a psychic jolt that drove him mad.

"Away with you!" he howled, the purple orb flying out of his chest and fractioning into pieces. An electric shield seemed to form around Tabuu, expelling Seviper and Kadabra away, but leaving himself vulnerable to projectiles attacks.

"Arrow to the face, buddy," Angelina said with a terse smirk, launching several homing arrows at Tabuu's head. Tabuu was severely hindered by this, sinking from midair, cascading to the floor, and onto his knees.

The fury in Tabuu's eyes was absolutely palpable, and upon seeing that, the elder villains_ including_ Ridley had wisely chosen to stay out of this.

"Take this!" yelled Marcus and Skippy, standing back to back and letting loose with their blasters. Coby simply walked up and kicked him in the shin, while Damien managed to knock him backward with several powerful blasts of Din's Fire.

"Get him, Zelda!" Damien ordered afterward, but there was no need. Zelda was already weaving her way up to the blue being, shield protecting her and her sword ready to attack. Tabuu was bent over backward by Damien's latest attack, his heart now front and center and exposed to any attack.

"HI-YAH!"

Zelda sprung into the air, did a front flip, and drove her sword into Tabuu. The villains performed a group recoil when Tabuu screamed, slowly fading out of existence.

"…there's no way we should've killed him already, right?" Zelda questioned bewilderedly, still in position with her sword stabbed into Tabuu.

"Oh heck no," Damien scoffed in return. "Aside from destroying his wings, there's no way we should've even left a _scratch _on Tabuu considering we're _complete_ newbies and he's a super powerful demon, and I've no idea what's going on now."

"Well played, all of you…" Tabuu muttered as his consciousness slipped away. "I will find a way to come back again, and I will destroy you all…"

"Not if _I _have anything to say about it."

After the sudden statement, Tabuu screeched again, forcing everyone to cover their ears. Zelda retracted her sword and scurried back to Damien's side, watching as Tabuu turned into nothing more than a wispy soul.

Tabuu continued to howl in his wispy form as he was suddenly drawn to the silver staff lying helplessly on the floor. Tabuu swirled around several times before becoming crystalized, turning into a blue orb with his soul floating helplessly within it.

It turned out that Holle had reverted back to what she always thought was "normal", with one hand on her staff and sucking Tabuu's soul towards it to create a brand new Soul Orb- much faster that she had originally thought.

"Heh heh…heh…" was all she muttered before collapsing once again.

. . .

Only but a few minutes later, still on the gym floor, Malon began to stir, raising her torso from the cold floor and finding herself surrounded by all of her fallen friends. She saw that her flute had landed not too far away, so with a desperate reach, she grabbed for it and pulled it toward her mouth.

"Let's pray I can still do this…"

Malon began to play the Song of Awakening, which not only helped her fully pull herself together, but it caused the other heroes to stir out of their unconscious state. She sighed and shook her head, until she was assisted up off the ground by Luigi.

"What…happened, exactly?"

"We were knocked out by Tabuu," Luigi explained, looking around to try and find him. However, all he found were twelve heroes being attacked by the six villains that _weren't _Tabuu. Bowser was chasing down Damien and Angelina, Ganondorf was throwing fireballs at Zelda and Tenn, Eggman was harassing Junichi, Starlos, and Purple, King Dedede was hunting down Coby and Pink, Wolf was firing his blaster at Future Team Star Fox, and Ridley was just chasing everybody and trying to eat them.

"What the heck is going on _now_?" grunted Fox, rubbing his head.

"Tabuu's gone, but those lunkheads are still attacking the kids!" exclaimed Ness.

"Yikes, what happened to their legacies?" Pit commented, eyeing Zeborah sprawled out on the ground, Connor lying on the floor covered in fudge, and Penji still twitching with confusion (but no longer poisoned, at least).

"Well, why are _we_ lying around here?" asked Amy, springing to her feet and running into the fray. "Let's go help them for crying out loud!"

"Yes, before they become a snack for Ridley, and nothing's worse than that," Meta Knight stated, with Starfy "fweeing" in agreement.

Samus finally composed herself as well, watching as the heroes rushed in to go help the children. She had been powered down into her Zero Suit, and it was going to take a while before her Power Suit would auto-reactivate.

"That doesn't mean I can't still help," she said to herself, reaching down to grab her whip. But as soon as she did so, she realized that there was something dangerously out of place.

They were only twelve students fighting for their lives…and last time Samus had checked, there had been thirteen.

This was puzzling.

Samus ran all the names in her head, checking off each name as she saw them run by. Eventually she discovered who was missing…and for the first time in her life, she panicked.

Samus sprinted into the fray, ducking under Knuckles, swerving away from Eggman, jumping over Dash, doing nothing but searching. She even pushed Mario out of the way, lifted up Starlos, and checked under Darcy.

"Where is she? Where is she?" Samus panted, finding it hard to search when everyone was throwing punches at each other. "…darn it all, where is my daughter? !"

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and her heart skipped a beat, believing it to be said daughter. However, when she turned around, it turned out to be only Sonic, who solemnly pointed to the very corner of the gym, where he had managed to spot a lifeless black and green lump.

"…oh no…"

Sonic frowned as she sprinted away, literally running through fire, ice, lasers, and other miscellaneous attacks, skidding to the floor as soon as she reached the corner. Samus leaned over with baited breath, rolling the girl over to see her face.

"Elysia…"

Stray pieces of Elysia's hair fell into her face, but no response came out of her mouth. Samus frowned, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Elysia…you know that showing emotion isn't the easiest thing for me to do…but no matter what I say about you, or what you _think_ I think of you, I'm always proud of you…always…I guess I should have told you that earlier, huh?"

"…yeah, just a little."

Samus' eyes shot open as Elysia smirked a bit, though still obviously weak.

"Hi, Mom."

"You're…okay…" Samus picked Elysia up in her arms, the teen somewhat limp in her grasp.

"Mom…_I_ should be sorry," Elysia murmured, struggling to shake her head. "I stole your whip, I lost control when you told me I shouldn't…Sonic promised that you'd understand but I knew he'd be wrong…"

Her eyes closed again, grimacing in pain.

"I decided, after seeing Junichi with his powers…that I would make the most out of my abilities to redeem myself…I took the blow for the others, cuz that's what a hero would do. You're not afraid of me now, right?"

Samus hung her head regretfully. "I never was, I promise. But listen…I was wrong before. You _can_ prove yourself, you _are _responsible, and you _are_ capable of doing great things…you put others before yourself, you're a strong young girl, and you never give up, and now that I think about it, I believe that's all you really ever needed. I should have done this earlier, but…"

Samus reached into her pocket and pulled out a small object- something that she called a sigil. It was shaped just like the one she had on her Zero Suit- the symbol of the Chozo.

She attached the object to Elysia's Zero Suit, where it became embedded in the fabrics and caused two glowing marks to appear on Elysia's back and the back of her hand. Elysia gasped in surprise- Samus just smirked.

"Suit up and kick some butt, sweetie."

A blast emerged out of the sigil, and Elysia managed to find her lost strength as a Power Suit began to form around her. The shoulder pads were flat, but other than that and the color, it pretty much resembled Samus' suit. The main color was silver, with the helmet having a pink visor. Once the transformation was complete, Elysia checked herself over to make sure she really hadn't died into a paradise, then threw herself at Samus, giving her a hug.

"Thanks, Mom."

. . .

Back in the bulk of the battle, the heroes had teamed up with the students to fight against the villains, who not only had plans to go through with their original plans, but also needed to pay for using their students like they had.

Already on the losing end was Wolf.

"Looks like I'm the one who's not letting you do anything now!" Fox exclaimed, surrounded by Falco, Marcus, Lulu, and Skippy. Wolf was trying to pick Darcy up off the ground, but for some reason, he felt strangely uncomfortable with four blasters aimed at him and under the fierce gaze of a girl that had probably had a black belt in karate.

"So, you're the one who organized this little 'field trip', huh?" Falco asked, taking a few steps forward. Wolf cringed and pulled Darcy closer to him.

"I devised the transportation and the plans yes, but I knew nothing as to why Tabuu wanted to attack the school. Technically I still don't."

"Wow, you guys need to work on some communication skills," scoffed Skippy.

"And organize better plans," Lulu added with a smirk.

"Don't forget to send us the bill to pay for the damage," huffed Marcus.

"We don't have enough money in the budget!"

"Well, should have thought about that. Fire!"

Wolf yelped and ran off with Darcy, dodging dangerous projectiles in his bid to return back to the Landmaster. Somewhere along the way, Darcy had woken up, causing her to leap out of her uncle's arms and whip out her laser rifle.

"How dare you idiots fire at my uncle-"

"Let 'em go, Darcy," Wolf mumbled, scooping up Dash instead and signaling for her to run. "We're making a tactical retreat."

"A retreat? ! Weak! We haven't even smashed anyone's face in and I-"

"Sweetie, I can break a bone any day of the week. I'll even demonstrate on a lowlife when we get back home. But right now, I think we've had enough."

"Aw…!" Darcy threw a fit and marched after Wolf. "Everybody else is still fighting! Why can't I still fight too?"

"We're not everybody else, dear."

Fox, Falco, Marcus, Lulu, and Skippy all lowered their blasters, watching as Wolf, Darcy, and Dash retreated back into the Wolfen and began to head back to Villain Prep. Fox sighed and shook his head while Falco muttered, "I do expect a bill."

"Eh, Wolf always was a strange one- he'll probably be back to pick up his dignity," chuckled Fox. "Anyway, are you kids all right?"

"We're fine, Dad," Marcus assured, striking a pose. "We showed them what's what and I'm not surprised Wolf ran for the hills with his tail between his legs!"

Fox smiled and ruffled up Marcus' fur. "Atta, boy."

. . .

King Dedede had started to make a retreat as well with Penji, but upon seeing Meta Knight swoop in and Kirby and Coby following him, he turned around and produced his Jet Hammer.

"You fiend!" Kirby shouted, pulling out his own hammer and glaring at Dedede. "The nerve of you, breaking down our gym wall with _a limo_! No class at all!"

"Kirby, doesn't trying to destroy us all and using his kid as a pawn prove to be a bit more devious than breaking down a wall?" Coby asked.

"Hey, if it had been the fourth wall, we'd really be in trouble. Walls are serious business…especially when they lie!"

Coby gaped at Kirby as Meta Knight stood before them both, wrapped up in his cape and facing Dedede, his son, and his hammer with a masked expression.

"I'm actually surprised at you, Dedede…" Meta Knight trailed, his yellow eyes seeming extra intimidating. "You are the last person who I expected to put _your son_ on the line. Have you no shame?"

"Of course I have shame!" King Dedede exclaimed, jabbing his hammer threateningly at Meta Knight. "I'm pretty sure we_ all_ have shame! We were used by Tabuu…he assisted us in building the school, and we really_ did_ want to educate our successors…except Ridley- there's really something wrong with that guy."

"So what exactly happened- and it'd better be good, because I didn't get knocked out by a shockwave just to hear a story," huffed Kirby.

"Basically, Tabuu rallied us together so that when Wolf pitched the idea for a 'field trip', we'd all go along with it without asking any questions. All he wanted was to have revenge for being defeated before, not caring about us or the students at all, but now that Holle trapped his soul in her staff, he shouldn't be coming back."

Meta Knight nodded in understanding; Kirby and Coby were upset that they didn't get to beat anyone up. King Dedede hoisted Penji up onto his shoulder, just as the confusion was finally wearing off.

"Ugh…I don't feel so good…" the small penguin mumbled. King Dedede patted his head and turned back to the Star Warriors.

"I paid for most of the stuff at Villain Prep…but that's just because I wanted my son to go to a school, and he wouldn't be let in here simply because of who _I_ am. It's really depressing."

"As authorized bus driver, I'm pretty sure there could have been an exception," Meta Knight explained.

"Dude, you were pranked!" Coby exasperated.

"Uh, yeah, he is right," added Kirby.

"I take my duties very seriously- you won't deter me from them."

Coby sighed as Kirby looked around and cringed.

"Um…maybe we won't get to beat anyone up, but it still looks like a war is going on."

Meta Knight, Coby, King Dedede, and Penji all looked to where Kirby was pointing and recoiled as well.

. . .

"We refuse to leave here empty handed!" Ganondorf and Zeborah roared, fighting against Link, Damien, Queen Zelda, and Princess Zelda. It was a fury of fire and swords from both sides, with Ganondorf, Queen Zelda, and Damien constantly using flame attacks, and Zeborah, Link, and Princess Zelda clashing with blades.

"Aren't you even the slightest bit put off about the fact that you were a pawn in this whole mess?" Princess Zelda grunted, shoving Zeborah away with her shield once again.

"Not really, actually," Zeborah replied, slicing at Princess Zelda and managing to cut off a small chunk of her hair. "After all, it's an evil school. They do evil things."

"Even if they're morally wrong?" Link asked, successfully sending Zeborah to the ground with a well-placed strike. She grunted as she returned the floor, rolling away from being stepped on by Damien.

"More importantly, what could you possibly want at this point?" asked Damien, he and his mother casting Farore's Wind and blowing Ganondorf into the nearest wall. "There's nothing left for you to gain!"

"Well," Ganondorf grumbled, removing himself from the wall and flying back into the fray. He shoved Damien out of the way and grabbed Queen Zelda, grinning devilishly. "I can always take your mother!"

"_Never_!" wailed Link, flying out of nowhere and tacking Ganondorf to the ground. Queen Zelda tumbled out of his grasp, then proceeded to blast Ganondorf with Din's Fire.

"Seriously, Ganondorf needs to get over himself," she commented to herself, although Damien, Princess Zelda, and Zeborah had stopped battling to gawk awkwardly at the display. However, the three of them were promptly bowled over by Sonic, who had Junichi on his shoulders and was running after Eggman in his Egg Pod.

"Man, of all classrooms you had to bust into, why'd it have to be MINE?" Sonic complained, skidding to a stop and lowering Junichi once Eggman had been corned into a wall that was still intact. Eggman simply turned to Sonic and kept a straight face.

"You have the_ nerve_ to point fingers at me when your little squadron has done _this?_" Eggman bellowed, holding up his nephew who still had a few splotches of hot fudge splattered on his bright red coat.

"Well,_ you've_ put a bunch of kids in danger, _nutjob_," Sonic began with a smirk. "So yeah, I'll totally take credit for what's about to happen."

Eggman narrowed his eyes and stared at Sonic curiously. "What are you talking about-"

"YAH!" yelled Amy, having jumped onto the Egg Pod while Eggman had been distracted and proceeding to whack him over the head. Connor yelped and fell onto the floor as Eggman boomed in pain. Amy then jumped off the Egg Pod and scrambled over to Junichi. "Oh, my baby! Are you all right?"

"_Yes_, Mom," Junichi begrudgingly replied, having been the inheritor of his mother's death hugs. "But if you keep smothering me like this, I won't be able to use my abilities!"

"You mean ya _do_ have abilities?" Sonic asked, sidling up to Junichi as Amy released him from her grasp. Junichi nodded eagerly, turning to Eggman as his eyes began to change color.

"Yup! Just watch this." His eyes darkened to purple as he lightly whispered, "Chaos Nightmare."

Junichi grinded his fists together, causing a menacing purple aura to begin to form. Then when he unclenched his fists, two large orbs of Chaos Energy had materialized, with him proceeding to throw them at the Egg Pod. The force of the attack slammed the Egg Pod into the wall, with Sonic and Amy looking on in approval.

"Ha, fool! That didn't do anything!" Eggman bellowed, rising from the Egg Pod and shaking a fist.

"No," Junichi admitted. "But it put you in position!"

Eggman raised an eyebrow at this, completely missing Tails and Knuckles springing out of nowhere. Tails promptly smacked him with a wrench while Knuckles revved his fist back and punched the Egg Pod, sending it through the wall and out of sight. Sonic, Amy, and Junichi gaped as Tails simply shrugged and explained, "Well, we have to clean and fix the other wall. Why not bust up one more?"

"That's…terrible logic," murmured Sonic and Junichi.

"Everyone duck!" Amy suddenly cried, she and the guys taking to the ground as Ridley swooped over them with his mouth wide open.

"Shoot- I missed!" he exasperated with a grunt. "Oh well- there's a nice buffet on the corner!"

Sure enough, he had corralled Ness, Tenn, Starfy, and Starlos in the corner, and was prepared to simply lean down and start dining. No matter how many attacks Ness and Tenn cast, nothing seemed to affect Ridley.

"I don't wanna be food, Uncle Stafy!" wailed Starlos, to which Starfy replied with, "Fwee!"

"Nothing we throw at him is working!" Ness exclaimed, after whipping up a rather fierce PSI Rockin'.

"If only I knew PK Starstorm!" Tenn sighed. Ness gave her a look.

"You're not going to learn that until you gain a few levels."

"Wha-?"

"He's got a point," stated Purple, standing behind Ridley with Pink and Red at his side. "Leveling up makes everything better!"

Ridley whirled around and roared at them. "Hey, look, a few more morsels decided to step up to the plate! And by plate, I mean my dinner plate!"

"You really need to work on your sense of humor," commented Pink as Red began to toss a Pokeball in his hand.

"Be careful you guys!" Tenn called. "He's impervious to most attacks!"

"Well, maybe he needs someone to put up a good fight with…drago-a-drago!" Red exclaimed, now throwing the Pokeball into the air. "Let's go, Charizard!"

Ridley was actually surprised to be face to face with an orange dragon, but since Charizard was considerably smaller than Ridley, he really didn't think much of him.

"Flamethrower, Charizard!"

And once Ridley was blasted in the face with flames, the thought went out the window.

"Come here so I can use you to roast my meal!" Ridley screeched, fruitlessly swinging his arms to try and catch the fleeting Pokemon. Charizard dodged swiftly, not even needing orders to know when to attack. He used Rock Smash on Ridley's head, and followed up with Fire Blast. "AAARGH!"

"Poison Sting, Seviper! Come on!"

"All right Kadabra, Psychic!"

"Seviper!"

"Kadabra!"

Charizard was joined by Seviper and Kadabra, who performed their respective moves and further enraged Ridley- and yet, he still went undamaged, though quite irritated.

"You've really done it now!" Ridley boomed, whirling away from the group in the corner and facing the Pokémon Trainers. "You've earned a nice little spot on my menu!"

"Then I hope you'll enjoy this little snack," Samus shouted, jumping onto Ridley's back and now possessing her Power Suit again. "Down the hatch!"

She swung onto Ridley's neck, and the moment he opened his mouth to take a snap at her, she stuck her cannon down there and launched a green Nova Beam. Ridley instantly wrenched about in refusal, but Samus hung on for dear life as Elysia rolled around his feet in a silver Morph Ball, dropping a few bombs.

"I recommend everyone get out of the way," she explained once she uncurled. Ness, Tenn, Starlos, Starfy, Red, Pink, and Purple all joined her in running off to the other side, while Samus kept him in place.

"GAK! Let go of me, woman…" Ridley trailed, trying really hard to toss her in the air so he could devour her whole. "I figured you'd be looking forward to seeing your parents again!"

"I'll see them when my time comes," Samus grunted back, squeezing Ridley's neck and making him gag. "But right now, I have to be a parent to my own daughter."

With that, the bombs Elysia dropped detonated, Samus ricocheting away from Ridley and allowing her arch foe to be consumed in the blast. Howling incoherently, he flew away, flying out of one of the holes in the wall and swearing up revenge with a smoking tail.

"Okay, so Tabuu, Wolf, Dedede, Ganondorf, Eggman, and Ridley have been stalled off," Elysia announced, removing her helmet.

"In a somewhat lengthy and awkward battle," added Tenn.

"So that leaves only one," Ness stated, and all eyes rolled to Mario, Peach, and Luigi standing against Bowser and his own son.

"We all know how this is going to end, Bowser," Peach said sternly, her blue eyes looking quite fierce.

"Yes, so what are you going to do?" Luigi asked, standing his ground. Bowser blinked and turned to Junior, who was sitting on his shoulder with a bored look on his face.

"Just run while your face still looks remotely normal," muttered the Koopa prince. Bowser narrowed his eyes and gave his son a disapproving look.

"No way! I want to squash Mario! Make him pay for having a better school than me…and a better cook…"

"Gee, Bowser, your son has more sense than you!" exclaimed Peach. "I bet he'll make a better king than you!"

"Yup, he's so wise, choosing to leave while he still has a few cards in his hand…or something of the sort," Luigi mumbled afterwards.

Mario: Uh-huh!

Bowser literally fumed.

"I can make good decisions too!" he boomed, throwing a fit and stomping his foot. "You think I can't, don't you, Mario? Well, I'll take my leave right now! …oh, and I'll swing around Thursday to kidnap Peach, so see ya then."

Peach grimaced.

Mario waved him off as Bowser barked at his lackeys, but all of them had already left. Growling once again, he and Junior jumped in their Koopa Klown Kars and hurried to follow them before they ended up getting left behind.

"Well, that was some first day of school," commented Malon with her hands behind her head and smiling.

"I am so glad I traded schools," Tenn stated happily.

"I never went to school," Link boasted.

"And you're proud of that?" sighed Damien, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Hey…you guys…" Starlos suddenly interrupted, pointing to the floor. "This isn't quite over."

Everyone turned to face Pit and Angelina, who were standing over Holle's seemingly lifeless body. Pit glanced down at her restored staff, still clutched in her hand, and now adorned with a bright blue orb that had Tabuu's soul trapped within.

"I hope she wakes up," he said seriously. "After all, she's the only one that can properly take care of Tabuu's soul."

"Technically she saved us all," Angelina pointed out, lightly petting Holle's long black hair that was no longer floating on its own. "If she hadn't acted despite being exhausted, all of us could still be unconscious. Holle's not really a bad person- she just doesn't like me."

"Here, maybe I can help," Ness offered, walking up with glowing green hands. "PSI Lifeup Omega!"

The healing move not only healed up Holle, but everyone else in the room. The heroes gasped pleasantly as their health was restored, while Holle finally began to stir. She groaned and pushed herself off the ground, her hair hanging in her face as she pulled herself back together.

"Welcome back, Goddess of the Afterlife," Angelina greeted, and Holle raised an eyebrow at all the heroes staring down at her with smiles.

"Yeesh, why are you all so happy?" she grumbled, rising to her feet and causing her heels to click against the floor. "Did you all dog pile me while I wasn't looking?"

"Hel, do you remember anything before you passed out?" Pit asked. Holle grumbled and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. After Connor ran me over, it weakened me out of my beastly state, but it didn't totally knock me out. Then when the goodie-goodies managed to bring Tabuu to his knees, I used his verge of death state to extract his soul from him and make me a new Soul Ball to replace the one that had been so _rudely_ broken…"

Holle glared at Angelina, who shrugged sheepishly.

"You ARE going to take care of Tabuu, aren't you?" Falco questioned, clamoring for confirmation.

"Yes, yes…he's the creepiest thing I've ever come across, besides myself. Thus, he's getting a nice space in a dark-nothingness void. Should be suitable."

Holle then looked around and frowned.

"Hey…where'd the other villains go?"

"They've…already cut and run," Luigi explained, poking his fingers together. Holle blinked for a moment, then waved it off.

"Well, whatever. I'll have to return to the Underworld immediately- I need to consult with my Reapers," she explained with a sickening smirk. "Maybe I'll skip school tomorrow, heh. My pet scorpion _can_ get very lonely when left alone. But either way, Tabuu needs to be taken care of before something happens to my Soul Ball again…"

"We can organize a sparring on the weekend, if I don't have homework," Angelina replied, chuckling a bit. Holle's eyes glinted dangerously.

"Heh heh, don't give me any ideas," Holle replied back, raising her staff. "Anyway, to the rest of you, I'll…see you around, I suppose."

"Thank you for getting rid of that monster once and for all," Peach spoke up, her hands clasped together. "We're all in your debt."

"You already are," Holle replied, scoffing. "Unfortunately, the fact that you're all heroes means that you'll have a pretty satisfactory eternity…so if you wanna keep it like that, keep on doing what you're doing."

Holle started to twirl her staff, smirking at the group.

"And with that…ich empfehle mich!"

Holle slammed her staff onto the ground, then produced a small purple crystal, which was the key to the Underworld. A portal opened up, and she gave a rather sadistic wave as she made her exit. A few heroes waved back, but most of them were left wondering:

What now?

Their question was answered in the form of a ringing bell, signaling the end of the school day.

It was time to go home.

"Wow. That was the longest hour ever."

"No kidding."

* * *

**Waaaaaah. :P **

**Only one chapter left, guys! It ties up some loose end and simply finishes up some concepts I developed...and a buncha characters get cameos. ;P**


	10. We All Go Home

Gaming's Next Generation

Part 10: We All Go Home

**After School at Villain's Prep-**

"Well, it could've been worse."

Junior, Zeborah, Connor, Penji, Darcy, and Dash were sitting on the front steps of Villain Prep, looking kind of miserable despite the fact that the school day was over. Darcy and Dash were sitting on the top stair, Zeborah, Connor, and Penji in the middle, and Junior was on the bottom.

"I suppose," Connor agreed with Junior, waving a white gloved hand about. "_If_ having inadequate classes, inedible cuisine, a couple nutjob teachers, and being used by your superiors who were being used by an even _more_ superior being in a nefarious plot all aren't that bad, then sure. Our first day could have been worse."

Junior sulked a bit as Penji poked a small bug with a twig.

"Do we have to come back tomorrow?" asked the greed clad penguin.

"Beats me- after all, we no longer have a principal," Dash added bitterly. "And there's also no top secret plan lurking around the corners…at least, that _we_ know of."

"The worst part is," Zeborah began, hanging her head. "…everyone used us. We just wanted to go to school like the hero kids, and we just got played."

"You acted like you didn't care much, Princess," Darcy said with a scoff, bouncing her leg impatiently. Zeborah glared back.

"Well, I wasn't about to let the heroes know that, plus _I_ wasn't knocked out for half of the after battle, _Darcy_!"

"Yes Darcy, _you_ were one of the first to run away," Connor pointed out with a smirk fighting to break out on his face. Darcy exasperatedly threw up her hands.

"That was Uncle Wolf's fault! He wouldn't let me stay!"

"Well either way…" Penji interrupted, and just the fact he spoke up caused him to have undivided attention. "…I was having fun at this school, even with all the bad things about it. It's not called a 'bad school' for nothing, heh."

"And now we can't even have the terrible classes or the foul food," complained Junior, and a unanimous sigh followed afterward. There were many things wrong with Villain Prep, but the one thing it had in common with Hero High was that its students enjoyed being there, through the good and the bad.

"I bet the villains didn't even care what we thought," Dash huffed, throwing a rock into a nearby bush in anger.

"That's _not_ true."

The six of them glanced over their shoulders to see Bowser, Ganondorf, Eggman, Dedede, and Wolf standing behind them, looking extra guilty. Dash appeared extra curious.

"Where the heck did Ridley go?"

"Yeah, I was fairly confident that we were his early dinner," Connor threw in.

"Once Samus and Elysia beat his sorry hide, he took off…" Ganondorf grumbled. "Should've never let him off the chain…"

"Hopefully he shows up to teach tomorrow, otherwise this school will only be four hours long," Eggman commented with a sigh, a hand resting on his disgruntled forehead.

"I could always teach," Wolf offered, scratching his ear. "I'm not entirely sure of what to teach but I'm willing to do what I can."

"That still leaves two hours open and us without a principal," added Dedede.

"I'd be principal," Bowser offered. "I only have homeroom, plus it's suiting considering that Mario is principal of Hero High."

"Maybe some of you can teach twice," Penji suggested, and the villains suddenly buzzed with discussion. Junior eventually shook his head and disrupted the talk.

"Hang on, you mean the school is still going?"

"Of course," all five replied, sounding shocked. The six students all stood up with surprised expressions.

"But we thought…that this school only existed to gather a bunch of villains to launch an attack on the heroes?" Zeborah spoke up.

"And use us like disposable tissues!" blurted out Darcy.

"Technically, that is true," Wolf admitted.

"But what's also true is that we want you to grow up and learn, just like the kids at the other school," King Dedede confessed.

"Nothing will ever change that," finished Eggman, patting Connor's head. The six students turned to each other curiously, with Junior finally sighing and speaking up.

"Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but…I think I'm looking forward to school tomorrow."

"Me too," the others uttered in surprise.

"That's the way to be," Bowser said with a low chuckle, arms folded and looking forward to his new job as principal.

"Oh _yay_, heartfelt ending…" murmured Ganondorf with acidic sarcasm. "Can we just go home now?"

"Yeah," Penji stated with a yawn, being scooped up by King Dedede. "I wouldn't mind going home. I'm exhausted…"

"Well, wouldn't want to make you any more tired than ya are now," Dedede stated, beginning to waddle off. "To the limo! I'll have a feast prepared for us by the time we arrive! The Waddle Dees will be thrilled to prepare it!"

"That sounds nice," Penji sighed happily before turning himself around and waving. "Bye, guys! See ya tomorrow!"

"Later, Penji!" Zeborah, Connor, and Junior called back, with Dash and Darcy following Wolf to his ship. He marched proudly forward, exclaiming that he would be the class' new favorite teacher, and Dash muttered something about doubt. Regardless, they all piled in and prepared to head back to the Lylat System.

"Well, I'm glad to see that everything ended somewhat happily," Connor stated, being left with his closest friends.

"Yeah, but we're still the bad guys," grumbled Junior. "That means we're _destined_ to get the short end of the stick!"

"Honestly, can't you appreciate the fact that we're even still here?" scoffed Zeborah with her arms folded. "Those heroes were really brutal!"

"We're just going to have to get stronger for next time, then!" Junior exclaimed. "I'll burn Damien so badly that he'll be left as a pile of ashes! And I'll have to work on my roar as well- I have to sound threatening…"

"You do that, Junior," Connor snickered, with Zeborah giggling afterward. Ganondorf then called to Zeborah to wrap things up. She gave her father a glower in return, and then pranced in front of Connor and Junior to finish the conversation.

"Well, I know_ I_ certainly had fun today," giggled Zeborah, leaning up to Connor and sneaking a kiss onto his cheek. "And I'm_ definitely_ looking forward to tomorrow!"

Connor started blushing on the spot as Ganondorf and Eggman were suddenly _very_ worked up.

"Zeborah Janet, I told you to stay _away_ from that boy!" Ganondorf yelled, running after his daughter as she gracefully skipped away. Connor was left standing awkwardly as his uncle started whooping in the background.

"Woo hoo! Way to score with the ladies, Connor! That's the ol' Robotnik charm!"

Obviously Eggman had the opposite opinion.

"…let's just get out of here," Connor finally murmured, the red stain on his face only becoming deeper. He eventually turned to Bowser Junior and saluted him. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow, yes?"

"Unfortunately," Junior replied with a smirk. Connor smiled back, then proceeded to take out his uncle's teleporter remote. With a simple push of a button, he and the overly happy Eggman quickly returned to their own world, leaving Bowser Junior with his father, the new principal. Bowser strolled up to his son and placed a hand onto his shoulder.

"Guess all that's left for us to do is to just go home, eh son?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Junior murmured back, starting to walk over to his Koopa Klown Kar. "…we're not going to attack Hero High _every_ day, are we?"

"Heavens no. We'll make that a monthly thing."

"Thank goodness," Junior huffed in relief. "I can only bail you out of a beating so many times…"

"You did _not_ bail me out! I was handling that situation perfectly!"

"Whatever, King Dad. One day I'll have your position, and those are the kind of decisions that I'll be making."

Bowser had opened his mouth to reply, but instead, he simply grinned and ruffled Junior's tuft of hair.

"Son, you're absolutely right."

**Meanwhile, at Hero High-**

"Today was_ so_ much fun!" cried Skippy, leaping down the steps with Marcus, Lulu, Tenn, Pink, Purple, Angelina, and Starlos. "I can't wait for tomorrow!"

"Oh yeah, I definitely can't wait," sighed Angelina. "After all, tomorrow's when we actually have to pay attention and learn and receive homework!"

"Relax, Angie," Pink giggled, resting her arm on the angel's shoulder. "Heroes don't get homework! We just get over exhausted in our abilities!"

"I want to actually experience battle class," Purple stated with a huff, messing with his cap once again. "I wonder if Red gave us any credit for today when we were fighting off the villains…"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Starlos replied with a shrug.

"Either way, I am just ready to go home," Marcus exclaimed with his hands behind his head. "You agree, Lulu?"

"Oh, definitely." Lulu nodded and folded her arms. "I'm so tired beyond belief…"

"Well, then I think you'll be glad to see me."

Confused expressions crossed the crowd as Lulu gasped and turned around, only to find her mother, Lucy, standing next to her grandfather Peppy. Eliciting an excited cheer, she hugged her mother, followed by hugging Peppy.

"I thought it'd be nice to see you after your first day of school, Sweetie," Peppy said with a chuckle, patting Lulu's head. "So I tagged along when your mother came to pick you up!"

"Dad, that's an understatement," laughed Lucy. "He couldn't wait to hear what you've learned!"

"Well, I've certainly got a lot to tell!" Lulu exclaimed, starting to head over to Peppy's Arwing (only because he thought piloting the Great Fox to a school would be a bit overkill). Skippy, meanwhile, stomped his foot and demanded to know why Lulu got to leave first. That was when _his_ mother showed up, placing her hands on his shoulders and grinning.

"Aren't you at least happy that you're leaving second?" Amanda Toad asked, and Skippy quickly whirled around to hug her.

"We can't linger around here for very long either, son," stated Slippy, hopping up to join his family. "After all, we can't leave your brothers and sisters alone for too long!"

"Right, right," Skippy remembered, beginning to walk off. He turned around and waved to his fellow classmates. "Bye guys! Catch you tomorrow!"

"Later Skippy!" Marcus, Pink, Purple, Tenn, Starlos, and Angelina called back, waving as well. They then waited patiently for someone to take them home as well, and surprisingly it was Red that had arrived for Pink.

"All right, I'm ready to go," Red stated, gesturing to Pink. "Your parents called to tell me that I have to take you home."

"Aw," Pink muttered. "I wanted to show my friends what great trainers my parents are…"

"Aren't I great enough?" Red stated with a slight smirk, tossing out a Pokeball and freeing Charizard. Charizard landed on the ground, and Red climbed aboard, motioning for Pink to join him. Sighing, Pink whirled around and bid farewell to her friends as well.

"See you at home, Purple," she added afterward, finally climbing on Charizard and latching onto Red. Purple gave her a two-fingered salute as Red ordered Charizard to use Fly. Obeying, the orange dragon took off, flying the duo off to Unova.

"Kay, so who's next?" asked Angelina, and Starlos hesitantly rose to stand.

"It looks like it's me…"

"Starlos!" cried Starly, flying out of nowhere and glomping her son. "My brother told me _everything_- you were in a fight to the death! Are you all right? Did you show them what you can do? I can always lend you my ribbon- that thing can haunt people's nightmares…"

"No, Mom, I'm fine," Starlos scoffed, trying to wrench out of Starly's grip. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm completely unscathed."

"Where's Moe and your uncle- they're supposed to be waiting with you! Your grandfather told that irresponsible fool that he couldn't watch Puff Top for very long-"

"We're comin', keep your bow taut sister," grumbled Moe, hopping toward the duo with Starfy skipping happily beside him. "We were helping clean the gym! Sonic's still pretty upset…"

"You don't have _time_ for cleaning! Puff Top could plunge into chaos at any given moment-"

"Mom, I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa have Puff Top under control for the time being…" Starlos grumbled, beginning to walk off. "'Sides, if anything were to go wrong, Uncle Starfy could take care of it. He's legendary!"

Starfy struck a pose as Starly made a face and accompanied her son.

"One of these days it'll be the Legendary_ Starly_, I tell ya…"

"Let this be a lesson, kids," Moe stated, turning to Marcus, Angelina, Purple, and Tenn. "You just can't satisfy some people-"

"I _heard_ that, Moe! Now let's get going!"

Moe yelped and hurried after the others, leaving Angelina and Tenn to simply shrug at each other. They continued to wait around, but suddenly a furious wind knocked them all over, and they soon discovered that the cause belonged to a girl jumping off a large black Pokemon.

"Hi, kids!" the girl exclaimed, adjusting her pink and white cap.

"Oh, great," Purple muttered, glancing away embarrassedly. The girl's brown boots clunked against the pavement as she approached Purple, and she grinned.

"What's wrong, Purple?" Hilda asked way too sweetly. "I figured you'd be the first one begging to go home!"

"Yeah, well…why'd you have to take _Zekrom_?"

Hilda looked offended, and her large brown ponytail swished as she took a step back. "Do you _know_ how many kids wish they could fly home on a legendary Pokemon, and here's _you_ complaining!"

"Typical Purple," jeered Angelina, and Hilda burst out laughing while Purple reluctantly trudged over to Zekrom. Hilda then waved everyone goodbye and jumped onto Zekrom, waiting as Purple positioned himself. Then, she summoned Zekrom to fly, and in a blue burst of electricity, Zekrom took off.

"So, Purple," Hilda began, flying to Unova just like Pink and Red. "Did you make any new friends today?"

"Well," Purple responded tentatively, glancing back down at the school that was slowly growing smaller. "…yeah. I think I did."

Back on the ground, Marcus, Angelina, and Tenn were continuing to gripe about not having left yet, but this changed for Tenn when her parents arrived via PSI Teleport. Excited, she rushed over to Ninten and jumped into his arms, Ninten chuckling all the way.

"Hi, Tenn," Ninten stated, holding her above the ground. "How was school?"

"Fantastic!" Tenn cheered, returning to the ground and jumping up and down. "I worked on my powers, got to see Ness, met Pink and Angelina, and I got to battle a ten-foot space dragon, you know, if not bigger-"

"Sounds like it was a big day," responded Ninten, and Tenn nodded eagerly.

"You can tell us once we get home," Ana stated, sporting her sunhat and holding the brim. "Your brother is staying with your aunts right now, and we have to go fetch him too."

"Aw, how come Ninty_ always_ gets to stay with Minnie and Mimmie?" Tenn asked, crossing her arms. "More importantly, how come he doesn't get to go to school?"

"He_ does_ go to school," Ninten enforced. "Just…not one as specialized as Hero High!"

"As soon as he's mature enough, he'll probably join you one day," Ana pointed out. Tenn groaned for a while, then turned to Marcus and Angelina and waved them off.

"Well, looks like I'm next, guys!"

"Call me as soon as you get home!" Angelina exclaimed, making a phone with her hand and putting it up to her ear.

"…you don't _have_ a phone," Marcus pointed out. Angelina blinked with realization.

"Oh yeah."

Tenn laughed and prepared to teleport, but Ness suddenly stumbled out of the building, waving his hands and telling the group not to leave yet. Ninten just looked on with amusement.

"Well, look who's still here!"

"Quite you," Ness murmured, breaking to a stop and causing a skid mark with his sneakers. "I was in the gym, just like everyone else. I heard Ana's voice though, so I knew you guys we're about to leave."

"Well, why are you so crazed?" Tenn asked, scratching her ear.

Ness then broke out into a grin, and proceeded to raise his arms.

"Because, there's a new move that I want to try out!"

"Oh no…" groaned Ninten and Ana groaned simultaneously, and Tenn started bouncing excitedly.

Ness then began to spin around counterclockwise, followed by shouting, "PSI Farewell!"

And with that, the four psychics had vanished. Angelina just blinked and shook her head.

"I'll never understand psychic powers…even though my two best friends specialize with them!"

"Hey, I've got powers of my own too," Marcus added with a smirk, and Angelina smacked her forehead. She then raised her head and cocked an eyebrow in Marcus' direction.

"Wait, if you have powers, how come you haven't used them at all today?"

Marcus shrugged. "I like to rely on my other skills. I mean, I'm already as good as I'm going to get with my powers, so I'm trying to focus my studies in everything else. That's why I wasn't put into fifth hour Psychics with Damien, Tenn, and Junichi."

"Ah, I suppose that makes sense," Angelina nodded, staring into the sky. Then, she heard the voice of a Goddess, and Angelina suddenly sat straighter.

"So, school's finally out, _eh_ Angelina?"

"…Palutena? !"

"What? No! It's me, Viridi!" cried the Goddess of Nature, although Marcus had no idea who Angelina was talking to. "Palutena is…_busy_, so to speak, so I'm going to have to bring you and Pit back up to the heavens. Speaking of, where is that squirt?"

"He might be helping clean up the gym from when it got attacked," Angelina pointed out.

"What? There was an attack and_ I_ wasn't informed?" Viridi exasperated. "I can't believe this! You should've summoned me! My Forces of Nature could've helped, or I could have at_ least_ sent Phosphora to do some damage-"

"Viridi, there were already a bunch of heroes here, _plus_ us students, so divine interference really wasn't necessary."

"Hmph, you're probably just saying that because you would've called Palutena first! She's not the only one that can help out, you know! Especially if Holle was in on that attack- ooh, that girl gets on my nerves-"

"Calm down, that's not at_ all_ what I was trying to-"

"Sorry to keep you waiting…again!" Pit suddenly cried out, bursting through the doors and landing abrutly next to Angelina. "I'm here, Lady Palutena! Feel free to return me to the wondrous world above!"

"Do all angels really talk to themselves…?" Marcus wondered, shaking his head.

"I'm _not_ Palutena!" Viridi exclaimed, and Pit instantly cringed. "Man, Palutena, Palutena…what has she done to gain so much respect?"

"Well, it doesn't help that you try to wipe out humanity," Angelina pointed out. Viridi just grumbled and granted Pit the Gift of Flight, a few leaves dancing around him.

"_Whatever_, I'm sure you both are just _dying_ to find a hot spring, aren't you?"

"Yes!" the angels sang. Sighing heavily, Viridi started controlling Pit's flight pattern, with Angelina taking off into the sky after him. Marcus just gaped at the display before shaking his head and realizing that he was alone.

"Not for much longer," a soft, caring voice echoed in his head, and Marcus suddenly sprung up. Glancing over his shoulder, he found the blue fox known as Krystal, who had telepathically communicated with him. Smiling, Marcus sprang off the step and into Krystal's arms, laughing happily.

"Hi, Mom!"

"Hello, my son," Krystal replied, petting his ears. "Where's your father?"

Marcus had shrugged, only for the two foxes to witness two of the Arwings careen across the sky, with the one Fox was piloting sinking low enough so that they could see him wave back. Marcus let out a cheer as Krystal smirked back, shaking her head.

"So, are we going to catch a ride with Dad in his Arwing?" asked Marcus as he was carried away.

"Of course not!" Krystal let out a laugh. "We're taking _mine_."

. . .

The remaining students were at the back of the school, waiting for their families to finishing clearing out the gym so Tails and Knuckles could fix it tomorrow. Damien had wisely pointed out that Malon could probably play a song on her flute and have the wall instantly fixed, but Coby stated that they'd probably break a_ different_ wall in anger after realizing that.

"I'm so tired," complained Zelda sometime later, lying on the step with Coby sitting on her stomach. "I mean, _I_ was the one that had to stab Tabuu!"

"I know," Damien stated quietly, turning to her with a shy gaze. "I'm actually kinda proud of you for that."

Zelda sat up and raised an eyebrow, also effectively rolling Coby right off her stomach. "You…_are_?"

Damien nodded. "Sure. I mean, I could _never_ do anything decent with a sword, and yet _you_…you do it so flawlessly! It's one of those moments when I realize you're not a _complete_ bane to my existence."

"Coming from you, that's a compliment," Zelda stated with a smirk. "Thus, I guess I'll admit that the way you took charge during that crisis was kinda cool as well."

"Naturally," Damien replied, almost sitting a little straighter. "I had to do what any leader would do, and I even took Dad's advice…"

They then turned to Elysia and Junichi, who were happily sparring with each other; Junichi carefully monitoring his powers, and Elysia making good use of her Power Suit.

"Looks like we both got things that we wanted, huh Juni?" Elysia asked, firing another missile. Junichi chuckled as his eyes turned yellow, using Chaos Bind to halt the missile in midair and render it ineffective.

"Yup!" he replied afterward, slamming his fist into the ground for a Chaos Impact. Elysia stumbled a bit, but she collapsed into ball form and ended up dropping a few regular bombs. Instead of panicking, Junichi simply relaxed, allowing his eyes to fade from indigo back to grey before he forced them into green. "Not this time, Ellie! Chaos Magic!"

A quick snap of his fingers caused a rift in the air, sucking in the bombs before expelling them back at Elysia. Elysia's suit provide extra defense against the returned blasts, but what it didn't defend against was Junichi jumping onto her and cracking up. Elysia proceed to laugh too, and deactivated her Power Suit so she could hug the hedgehog.

Then, all five of them balked as a spacecraft descended from the sky, landing just in front of the stairs. A tall man in a navy blue power suit emerged out of the craft, slowly approaching the kids. They continued to gape until the man removed his helmet, revealing the face of a dark-skinned man. He smiled smugly, casually turning to Elysia.

"Hey there, Duchess."

"…_Daddy_? !"

Anthony Higgs continued to grin as he spread out his arms. "In the flesh…and the suit, too."

Excited, Elysia set Junichi on the ground and sprinted toward Anthony, not stopping until she was completely wrapped up by his arms. She was so happy that she could've shed a few tears, but due to the fact that she started talking rapidly, that didn't happen.

"Oh Daddy, what a day I've had!" she exclaimed, eyes widening with uncontained enthusiasm. "I've met a lot of new people, Junichi found out he has Chaos Powers, we got to fight off a bunch of bad guys, I sacrificed myself for everyone, and best of all, Mom gave me my Power Suit! Isn't that great? !"

"So Princess finally caved, huh?" Anthony chortled, smirking. "I always knew that you were a responsible kid, but there was no way she was going to believe it until she saw it for herself."

"Yeah…" Elysia trailed quietly, before coming back to life and throwing a question at her father. "So, what're you doing here? I thought you were on that mission out in Nebula Twelve? You're not supposed to be back for three weeks…"

"I was," Anthony admitted nonchalantly. "Came home early to celebrate my girl's successful first day of school."

Elysia squealed and hugged Anthony once again, before he set her down and lead her to his ship. She skipped happily behind him, but not before spinning around and bidding her friends goodbye.

"I'll see you guys, tomorrow!" she promised, giving a thumbs up.

"Later, Elysia!" called Damien, Zelda, and Coby.

"Until tomorrow, Ellie," Junichi said quietly, giving her a shy wave in return. Elysia smiled and recipricated a firm nod, then followed her dad into the ship. The remaining four watched as it took off from the ground, going ever upward until it vanished into the vastness of space. It was silent among the group, until Junichi spoke up.

"Well, that was nice! I mean, Ellie hardly _ever_ gets to see her dad…"

"Agreed," stated Coby, watching the spot in the sky where the ship had disappeared. Then, down from the sky came Meta Knight, who swooped in front of children and landed in front of Coby. Coby simply blinked and put his mask on his face.

"You know what time it is, don't you?" Meta Knight asked, glancing at Coby from behind his own mask.

"Adventure time?" guessed Junichi.

"Chicken time?" wondered Damien.

"_Definitely_ hammer time," Zelda stated with utmost confidence. Meta Knight heaved a really heavy sigh as Coby shook his head and stood up.

"Nah, it's just time to leave," he stated, summoning his Warp Star and jumping onto it. "That's all right. I didn't know how much longer I could stand sitting on a step!"

"Heh, stand sitting…" snickered Zelda to herself. Meta Knight rolled his eyes.

"You are definitely Link's offspring…"

"Regardless," Coby interrupted, begin to ascend. "Catch ya later, Zel. Tomorrow, I think we should really stir up some trouble!"

Zelda smirked and adjusted her cap. "Yeah, I think I'm down with that."

Coby grinned as Meta Knight coughed in the background.

"Uh, there won't be any mischief making while I'm around."

"Hey, that reminds me," Junichi spoke up, turning to Meta Knight. "Aren't you supposed to be driving a bus?"

"Hmph, not on the first day," Meta Knight stated matter-of-factly as Coby just snickered and took off. The elder Star Warrior took this as his cue to leave, spreading his wings and flying after Coby.

"And then there were three," Zelda stated, kicking one leg over the other. "I bet Junichi's going next."

"I do too," Junichi muttered, and it was all too instantaneous.

"Junichi?" Amy Rose's voice called out, exiting the back door. She then found him sitting on the last step and quickly jumped down to pick him up. "_There_ you are! What're you doing out here?"

"I was hanging out with my friends and telling them goodbye," he replied simply, now in his mother's arms. Amy smiled and petted his quills.

"Well, you need to go home and get some sleep, because we're going to have to tack on some extracurricular training for you," Amy explained. "Now that we know for sure that you have powers, you're really going to need extra teachings…"

"Why?" Junichi complained. "I mean, everything you and your friends have ever done was off instinct! Why can't I be the same?"

"Because you're special," Amy replied, tapping him on the nose. "You can't go off instinct, otherwise you'd lose control and possibly hurt someone. That's why Sonic has suggested that you talk to our resident Chaos expert…"

"Knuckles? !"

"No, the other one."

With that, Shadow emerged out of the, well, shadows, and Junichi literally yelped. Amy glared back at the red and black hedgehog and proceeded to reprimand him.

"I _told_ you to come out where he could see you, not slink in like a creep!"

"Well, _sorry_! That's the direction I arrived in!" Shadow scoffed, walking out into the light. "I apologize for not being able to alter my route just for _your_ needs."

Junichi blinked and glanced up at Amy. "You couldn't have told me when we got home?"

Amy grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "You know how Uncle Shadow reacts to things-"

"I am_ not_ this kid's uncle!"

"You're his adopted uncle and you're going to like it. I'll see you after school bright and early tomorrow, Mister."

"Hmph, fine," Shadow stated, whipping out the green Chaos Emerald and tossing it in his hand. "As long as I don't have to put up with Sonic, I'll deal with Junichi."

Damien and Zelda just gawked with disbelief. Junichi shifted in Amy's arms to wave them off.

"Don't worry, Uncle Shads is _much_ nicer to me when no one's around."

"...You obviously spend way too much time with Sonic," muttered Shadow, now clutching the Chaos Emerald. "Maybe a few training sessions with me shall put you on the right track and you can be more like me instead."

"He is just fine the way he is!" Amy insisted, swatting fruitlessly at Shadow. "Now, take us home…_please_."

Shadow blinked his crimson eyes and held up the emerald. "All right then. Chaos…"

"Bye guys!" Junichi exclaimed in Damien and Zelda's direction. They waved back with similar expressions.

"…_Control_!"

With that, Shadow, Amy, and Junichi vanished in a blue light, leaving the royal siblings by themselves. Of course, they weren't alone for long, because Hero High's librarian emerged out the door and stepped quietly toward the two children. Damien turned and greeted her while Zelda became uncharacteristically silent.

"Hello, Mother," Damien hailed. "Will you be taking us home?"

"Yes," Queen Zelda replied, cuing Damien to stand up. "Your father is taking care of some…er, after school work, and Peach invited us to have dinner at her castle."

"I am looking forward to accepting Her Highness' invitation."

"Her Highness- that's a new one," Queen Zelda chuckled, putting her arm over his shoulder and leading him away. They had taken no more than three steps when she stopped, turning around to see her daughter still sitting on the step. "Well, come on, dear."

Princess Zelda glanced up, seeing her mother's hand outstretched to her.

"What're you waiting for?" Queen Zelda asked, a soft smile on her face. "We don't want to keep Princess Peach on hold! After all, her tasty cakes don't stay fresh and warm for long!"

"She's making_ cake_?" Damien suddenly exclaimed, only to cough and compose himself afterward. "Ah, yes, um…Godspeed, Zelda."

Princess Zelda eventually rose from the step, walking over and taking her mother's hand. She continued to be unusually silent, being led away by the queen.

Finally mustering up enough courage to speak, she whispered, "Mom?"

"Yes, my dear?"

Princess Zelda's words caught in her throat, but somehow, she managed to force them out.

"Are you…mad at me?"

"Mad?" Queen Zelda asked, sounding a bit astounded. "Why would I be mad?"

"Because…of how I acted…a long time ago…" Princess Zelda hung her head, closing her eyes tightly. "I never…apologized…and I just wanted to say…_that I'm sorry_…"

Both Zeldas came to a sudden stop, with Damien walking five more steps before even realizing. Queen Zelda turned to glance down at the princess, who had her cap completely covering her face. She let out a soft breath before bending down and scooping up her daughter.

"Zelda, I _know_ that you're sorry," she stated, and the pink capped girl wiped away the tears that were beginning to form.

"You…_do_?"

"Of course," Queen Zelda replied, a small smile crossing her face. "It's all part of being a mother. I knew you were sorry but didn't know how to tell me when you first started avoiding me."

The princess quivered silently and hung her head once again.

"I'm your mother, Zelda, and you can always tell me anything. We may not always see eye to eye on things, but I understand what you're going through. I was there before, once."

Queen Zelda grabbed the brim of Princess Zelda's hat, lifting it up out of her face. Princess Zelda started back with shimmering eyes, trying hard not to cry.

"We might have our bad days, but one thing is always assured- I love you, and no matter how many clashes we may have, that fact will not have changed."

Well, that did it.

Princess Zelda burst into once pent up tears, hugging her mother and sobbing into her shoulder. Queen Zelda comfortingly patted her head, with Damien tugging on her dress and asking when they could go get the cake.

"Right now, Damien," Zelda stated, raising her arm and conjuring up Farore's Wind. "First, we need to get your sister into her better clothes and clean her up, we have to wait for your father to come home, and then we can go to dinner."

"All right, I will do my best to be patient," Damien sighed, though it was rather obvious he was getting to a level of antsy that he thought only Coby could reach. Zelda simply chuckled, and the delicate breeze of Farore's Wind whisked them back to Hyrule.

. . .

"So, for a first day full of emotion, attacks from rival schools, intense bonding moments, and almost getting destroyed in the process, I think that day went well, eh?"

"Yeah, _sure_, Kirby. It was peachy, getting bit by my own daughter and having to ditch in the middle of my class."

"Are you kidding me? My gym is destroyed! _Destroyed_!"

"It _was_ quite the smash."

"Oh, no one asked you, Link!"

Mario: No kidding.

"Well, no one asked for your opinion either, Mario!"

Mario, Link, Sonic, Kirby, and Samus were lounging on the hill just on the outskirts of the school, watching as the afternoon slowly eased into evening territory. Mario was sitting in a tall patch of grass with Link next to him, Kirby was lounging in a bush, Sonic was hanging upside down from a tree, and Samus had powered down and was lying on her back in her Zero Suit.

"Forget the school day, how do you think we did raising our kids?" Link asked tentatively, scratching his head. "I mean, I've got an uptight son and an off-the-wall daughter!"

"At least you don't have a teenager that sucks the life out of you," Samus pointed out.

"All teenagers do that," Sonic stated with a wicked grin, and Samus rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. You're a prime example of that."

_"No_, I was the exception that proves the rule!"

"Whatever."

"You wanna complain, try mentoring Coby sometime," Kirby stated, eating blueberries that happened to be growing out of the bush. "He has no respect for responsibility, I tell ya…I mean, at least I _know_ when something needs to get done. Coby's always all, 'Whatever!' and leaves!"

"Sounds like Samus," snickered Link, and he and Sonic performed a fist bump. Samus made a face and debated on sitting up.

"You know I've got my paralyzer whip on me, after taking it back from Elysia. I can 'accidentally' pull it out at any given time without forewarning."

Link notably shirked away as Sonic shook his head.

"Once again, no idea how she came from you. She's the nicest girl _ever_, and you're all 'Ragh, I hate people! Make a joke and I'll kill you!' I have to deal with that attitude enough with Shadow for crying out loud!"

Samus grunted again as Link and Kirby started chortling. Samus reached for the paralyzer whip and lashed it out, with Link jumping several paces away and stumbling into the tree. Sonic ended up laughing so hard that he fell _out_ of the tree, which cued laughter from Samus.

"…but seriously, guys," Kirby continued, trailing off with chuckles. "Did we do a good job with our successors? I mean, they've got to take our place one day…"

"Whether we did or not," started Sonic, plucking twigs and grass out from his quills. "We still have this school, and if we went wrong somewhere before on our own, we can amend our past mistakes now,_ together_."

Mario: Oh yes!

"The principal has spoken!" exclaimed Link, throwing his arms into the air while the plumber just shook his head. Samus just chuckled and closed her eyes.

"You're all idiots, I hope you know."

"You're an idiot in your own special way, though," stated Kirby, springing up from the bush. "SAMUS GLOMP!"

"Wah-Oomph!"

Kirby landed on Samus with a hug, and Mario, Link, and Sonic started cracking up once again. Samus sighed, defeated, and let Kirby have his way, with everyone else proceeding to lean back in the grass.

"…do you think we'll ever change?" Link asked, staring at the clouds gliding by the orange evening sky. Sonic looked thoughtful before shaking his head.

"I certainly hope not. I like being me too much."

"As dumb as we are, life wouldn't be as…fun if we changed," Samus admitted.

"Even after the next generation comes and goes…" Kirby began with a smile. "Even after we've raised our generation, and that generation raises one of their own…we'll still be us."

Mario nodded and gave a thumbs up. Link hummed and closed his eyes, resting his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, I think I'd be okay with that."

With that, the five of them laughed together one more time, knowing that no matter how much time came to pass; they would always still be friends.

* * *

**Who's got the cheesiest ending ever? ME! *fistpump* In case anyone didn't notice, the story was really about those five heroes, just through the eyes of the kids. I'm so sneaky. ;P And so ends GNG... **

**On that note, sequel anybody? I've already got a plot written out, and I'll go through with it if anyone really wants to see it. It'll have a bunch of new stuff in it, and expand on what I've already done. ^^**

**But if not, then it was super fun doing this story, and I'm glad if you've enjoyed this story even half as much as I did. :) **


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